Found
by Kali Omisha
Summary: Hancock finds a mystery woman that was unknown, unexpected, frozen and drop dead gorgeous . This story takes place after fallout 4 institute and brotherhood of steel destruction ending. There will be spoilers not sure what one's yet. There is adult language, violence, detailed blood and Gore. Chem and Alcohol use. Adult situations. Rated M for a big reason.
1. Found

_edited 5-23-20016,_

 _This is my first fan fiction since 2003. I would like to think I've become wiser since then. Is the grammar bad? Most likely. Is there spelling errors ? Most likely a few. I'm writing and editing everything on a $20.00 disposable phone from Wall- Mart. I'm open to all reviews good and bad. Reviews help with fixing the problems. I'm old school so I can handle criticism with no butt hurt. So with that being said, read on my friends._

Fuck

Hancock knew he was in shit deep trouble. He knew he shouldn't have left GoodNeighbor but he did. He was taking one of his mind clearing mayoral walks to remind him of who he was while Nora was gone being a General for the Minutemen and then helping Nick with some case at Diamond city before coming back home to GoodNeighbor.

The walk was good at first. Just one of those pick a direction and walk kind of walks. He had randomly chose to go south. He wasn't far from GoodNeighbor but was far enough away that the trouble he was in probably could cost him his life.

Damn.

A bullet in his arm and no stimpacks. Normally he wouldn't leave with out a stash of chems, his gun and ammo, but this was a spur of the moment walk and he had left everything on the coffee table by his couch back at the state house.

The walk had been going smooth. He didn't plan on going too far as he had finally decided to visit the newly remodeled combat zone. He heard that it had been converted into lounge with a stage for people to perform at.

It wasn't until he got to the ally between Westwood residences and the Plank walk that the group of fucking raiders had jumped him. Thankfully he had his knife on him and was able to leave a few raiders bleeding on the ground before one of the cock fuckers had shot him.

Now he had a damn bullet in his arm. Hancock was bleeding, sober and pissed, and the raiders were now hunting him down like a … he almost laughed at the fucking thought of it.. a feral ghoul. He needed to hide somewhere.

Hancock ran by the gunner encampment in the theater district and laughed as he knew that would be a bad place to hide. They pushed him further south to the bridge overpass and Hancock had hoped there was a place near by to hide.

That was when Hancock saw a small building called Joe's Spuckies. It wasn't boarded up and looked like a promising place to hide.

Hancock ignored the pulsating pain in his arm and ran for it. Normally he wouldn't run from raiders but these ones were unnaturally well organized and armed very well.

Hancock ran for the back counter to duck and hide behind. He smiled when he saw a hatch. At least if there were ghouls down there they would leave him alone since ghouls don't attack other ghouls. Just as Hancock was opening the hatch door he could hear the raiders yelling and taunting him outside the building.

"Don't be scared we won't hurt you too much ha ha ha" one raider taunted as he tapped the broken end of a large pipe on the hood of an old broke down car. The fuckers were trying to draw him out. If he was a feral ghoul, that might have worked.

"Here ghoulie ghoulie come out and play." A female raider screamed out as Hancock heard her cock her gun getting ready to shoot him if he came out.

It took everything John Hancock had to keep his mouth shut and to hold back the insults he wanted to shout back at them. If he had his fucking gun they wouldn't be so fucking happy about chasing him. With that thought Hancock descended into the unknown. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He was a ghoul after all, so seeing in the dark was not an issue. Hancock realized this must be a hidden speakeasy from the early pre-war prohibition period, he had read about them in a history book Daisy had left in his office.

When his eyes were adjusted better to the light, a horrific smell hit him like a brick wall. Hancock nearly threw up.

Dead raiders with all kinds of bullet holes were laying around. By the smell and looks of there decayed bodies, they had been dead for a long while now. Hancock looked up as he could hear foot steps above him as the raiders made it into Joe's Spuckies. It would only be a matter of moments before they found the fucking hatch.

Hancock quickly ran across the rotting bodies. He ran past a small stage where a skeleton that decayed long ago lay. He went around a corner and down a tunnel looking for an ideal spot to hide in. Hancock continued to run around a few turns and down some steps next to a huge pipe. He rounded a corner and saw what appeared to be a dead end but noticed the button panel on the wall and an open door that led to a dark room. Hancock still had the knife that he used so long ago to make an example out of Finn with. He had done that front of Nora and the rest of the town as an example. You don't fuck with mayor Hancock or the town laws.

Hancock heard the raiders whooping and hollering from way down the tunnel where he first came in at. With out a second thought Hancock held the knife in front of him as he plunged into the darkness of the room.

In the dark his ghoul eyes readjusted and he could see a terminal on a table by the door. Hancock poked at the keyboard hoping it was in standby mode and not encrypted. With a gentle hum it flicked on.

LOCK DOOR

LOCK SAFE

AUX POWER ON

Hancock clicked on LOCK DOOR. With a loud crash and clicking of some serious locks a large door swung shut and locked it's self in place. Hancock smiled knowing it would take the raiders damn near forever to figure out how to open that.

Then the smile faded when the thought that he could be trapped there crossed his mind. With a shake of his head to clear his dark thoughts Hancock looked back at the terminal and clicked POWER ON. Hancock had to close his eyes for a moment to keep them from hurting as dim fluorescent lights flicked on in the room.

When Hancock opened his eyes he saw he was in some kind of pre-war bunker. There in the middle of the floor was a well dressed rotting ghoul that was riddled with bullet holes in his head and body. Damn, whoever shot him had some serious rage issues towards the dead ghoul. One shot would have been enough. He had been shot so many damn times there was no face left only a bloody mess of what was once a head.

Hancock looked around the room. He saw a bed, a desk, a dresser and a few other pieces of nice pre-war furniture. There was a small kitchenette lining the wall across from the bed.

Hancock rummaged around the room hoping to find something , anything. He had luck on his side, he found a stimpack, a bottle of moonshine, an inhaler of Jet and a box of what he read as stogies. Hancock didn't care what they were. They looked like cigars and a good smoke was something he needed.

Hancock took off his coat and rolled up his bloody shirt sleeve. He sat on the edge of the bed and poured some of the moonshine over his knife to sterilize it. Hancock then took a deep swig of the shine to help dull the pain he was about to put himself in. Damn, this shit tasted better and way smoother then Babrov's moonshine.

He took a long deep breath from the Jet inhaler and then quickly used his knife to dig the bullet out of his arm so the stimpack wouldn't seal it into his arm.

As soon as he heard the bullet clink to the floor he stabbed the stimpack into his arm and sighed as it hissed and the pain in his arm faded into nothing.

Hancock watched his arm heal in amusement as his skin immediately started to cover the hole. He could feel a tingling sensation in his arm as his muscles were being knit back together by whatever substance the stimpack contained. Hancock rolled his shirt back down. He was going to have to sew it and clean it if he got back to the state house. Hancock grabbed His red coat and put it back on.

Hancock picked up a stogie and the silver lighter. Hancock was getting ready to light the stogie when the damn lighter slipped from his bloodied fingers.

Hancock watched as the lighter hit the floor then bounced under the bed. "Fuck!" Hancock yelled as he got off the bed and had to bend down to get under it.

Hancock saw a glowing red button.

With great curiosity Hancock had to pull the bed away from the wall to get a better look at it. Hancock knelt down and reached for the glowing button. He hesitated for a moment wondering what might happen if he pushed the red button.

"Aw fuck it." Hancock exclaimed aloud as he slammed his fist down on it.

With a loud click a doorway opened up behind where the bed headboard had been. Hancock had to finish pulling the bed away from the wall to have full access to the now open door. Hancock took a deep breath and let it out as he figured what the hell and walked through the door.

He was amazed to find a clean medical like room. In the dim fluorescent light he saw a large chamber like machine on the back wall that was covered in frost. Hancock knew what it was immediately. He remembered having to help Nora , Nick , and Dance carry Nora's husband from one. They carried him out of the vault so the man could have a proper burial after Nora took down the institute.

Hancock slowly walked up to the cryo pod and had to wipe a layer of frost off the glass with his scarred and calloused hand. What he saw made him jump like he had been zapped by a bad power wire.

There was a beautiful naked woman with ebony black hair, she looked as if she was sleeping. She reminded Hancock of an old porcelain doll his mother had when he was just a boy. Her skin was so pale it looked like porcelain and her lips were as red as blood. She appeared to be in her late 20's to early 30's. Before he could take in anymore of her beauty a warning beep begun to go off. Hancock looked at the terminal that was attached to the pod.

WARNING, AUX POWER LOW, EMERGENCY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

TERMINATE.

REANIMATE AND OPEN POD.

With out hesitation Hancock clicked on the option to reanimate her. He had to take a step back as the pod let out a loud his and the door swung out then up.

For a few brief moments she stood there motionless, skin glittering with frost in the dimly lit room. She looked like a porcelain angel that glittered without wings. Then with a click the IV that was attached to her arm started to pump clear fluid into her.

Hancock watched in amazement as her pale skin took on a more lively color as her blood begun to flow again through her veins.

The frost melted quickly away with thin wisps of fog floating from her skin. Hancock had to remind him self to not stare at her perfect breasts as they started to rise and fall with each breath.

Then her eyes fluttered open as she suddenly pitched foreword trying to take her first steps out of the cryo pod. Hancock had to catch her by placing his warm hands on her shoulders as she fell out of the pod face first.

She took a few ragged breathes of air and coughed as her lungs were filled with warm air.

With a shocked gasp at the touch of his warm hands she looked up to see Hancock's deep black eyes. Her eyes made chills go up and down Hancock's spine. They were a brilliant amber, the most profound color of amber he had ever seen anyone's eyes to be.

"Eddie?" She asked in a voice that was soft, sounded innocent and haunting.


	2. Awakening

Nicole couldn't stop staring into those deep black eyes. They were nothing like Eddie's ugly blood shot blue eyes. He wore a leather folded hat on what appeared to be a bald head. Eddie must have shaved off his white hair that he kept so well trimmed. He wore a red long coat with a frilly ivory blood stained shirt underneath . His face was scarred and callused like Eddie's.

Nicole wondered where Eddie had kept this costume. Eddie enjoyed messing with her head sometimes for his own amusements.

"Your not Eddie" Nicole calmly said to the man in front of her.

"No doll, the names Hancock." Hancock said in a voice that was deep and inviting.

Nicole felt something deep within her when she heard his voice. She knew it was a feeling of some kind, but didn't know exactly what to call it. Eddie was not the best person to learn feelings from. She knew what feeling happy and loved by a parent felt like, but that was long ago when Eddie had thought of her as his own daughter. The only new feelings she learned from him anymore were pain, fear and confusion.

"You ok there doll? " Hancock asked her as he gently and slowly took his hands off her shoulders to make sure she could stand on her own.

Nicole wasn't used to help coming out of the cryo pod. She usually just fell out , got dressed, and did whatever Eddie asked of her.

" I'm fine sir, Where is Eddie?" Nicole asked in a hollow voice as she walked to the closet by the cryo pod. She automatically pulled out the plain black cotton dress Eddie had required her to wear every time she left the cryo pod. Nicole put the dress on with out any disregard to Hancock seeing her naked.

" About that doll, um well, I think Eddie is dead love." Hancock turned his head away from Nicole to give her some kind privacy.

Nicole finished putting her dress on and braiding her long black hair the way Eddie demanded her to. Nicole knew this had to be another stunt Eddie was trying to pull on her.

Sometimes Eddie would pretend to be someone different when she came put of cryo just to mess with her head. She figured he did it out of boredom and loneliness. She had laughed at him the first time he wore a costume and called him out on it, she had paid dearly for it. Some how Eddie must have lost weight and somehow changed his hideous eyes.

With a sigh she remembered a time when Eddie was nice to her. The older Eddie got the more he appeared to hate her and loose his mind.

" All right look, I know Eddie and I know this has to be one of his stunts, what are my commands from Eddie ?" Nicole asked as she turned to face the man that called himself Hancock.

With a shock she noticed the little things that Eddie couldn't change about himself. This Hancock man was different. His shoulders were broad, he appeared lean, but also muscular. Eddie was just short and fat.

Like Eddie, his skin was scarred, the scars were probably all over his body. Nicole blushed at the thought of him standing in front of her naked, but she then wondered what a man even looked like naked.

Eddie required her to always wear this dress and a few other old dresses. He never touched her in what he called private areas, but he seemed to enjoy glancing at her naked body when she had to climb in and out of the cryo. Nicole had never seen Eddie naked. With these thoughts going through het head, the same feelings she felt earlier ripped through her body again and made her take a small gasp.

Eddie never made her have feel like that. So who was this man? With a sinking feeling she remembered what he had said moments ago.

When Hancock turned to face Nicole, he saw her flush face staring at him. Maybe that was a side effect of the cryo chamber or a side effect of his strong charisma, he wasn't quite to sure.

"Hay doll, like I said, I think your Eddie is dead." Hancock had to step aside quickly as she rushed passed him to the other room where the dead ghoul lay.

Nicole paused at the doorway to the bunker. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. There was no way Eddie could be dead. They were locked away in some kind of safe place that Eddie called his underground bunker. Nicole slowly breathed out and quickly walked through the door to the main part of the bunker.

When her eyes readjusted to the darker light of the bunker she saw Eddies bloody body on the floor.

She heard boots following behind her as she slowly walked closer to Eddie.

Nicole saw there was nothing left of his face. At first she felt cold. She couldn't tell if she wanted to cry in sadness, laugh in joy or do both at the same time. She didn't know if she should be angry, sad or happy. Her emotions were all a mystery to her anymore.

As she stepped closer to Eddie she shok her head at the sight of all his blood. "You were the only person I knew Eddie. You raised me from as far back as I can remember."

Nicole knelt down next to his body and placed her right hand on his chest. With out a second thought she flicked her left hand at his side and the knife he kept hidden in his belt appeared in her hand. Nicole plunged the blade in to the center of his chest. He had taught her long ago that's where the heart was. "Rest in peace Eddie, I only wish I was the one to have done you in."

Hancock had followed the woman out of the medical room back to the main part of the bunker where the dead ghoul named Eddie laid. He had expected her to cry or something dramatic that women like to do, but she showed no emotion as she flicked her left hand at his belt and was suddenly holding a knife. The knife appeared to of just existed out of thin air she was so fast with it.

With the light glinting off the blade, she quickly plunged it into the center of his chest. Hancock raised his eyebrows as he guessed she had some deep demons with this man.

"Rest in peace Eddie, I only wish I was the one to have done you in." The way she said it was hollow, expressionless and creepy. Then she turned and looked at Hancock. "Thank you for killing him, He deserved it for all the pain he's done to me." She stood up and moved towards Hancock.

Hancock held up his hands and shook his head. "Not the one that did it doll. He was like that when I got here, the door was open and I was just tryin to get away from some raiders. Then I found you" The woman stopped and stared at Hancock. She glanced at the wall where the sliding door was and Hancock saw her body shudder as if in fear of the thought of it being open.

"Is it safe out there now? are there others like you and Eddie? I thought Eddie and I were the only ones left alive, at least that's what Eddie always told me." she walked towards the door and put her hand on it. "What are raiders? Are they people like us or those things called anmalls?" She turned to look at Hancock for all of her answers.

It was the question about the raiders and the way she said animals that made Hancock pause for a moment. Could this woman be serious? How long has she been in here?

"Of course its mostly safe in the commonwealth doll." Hancock leaned against a dresser and absent mindedly spun a globe that was sitting next to him. "There are lots of people out there, some are good and some are bad, raiders being one of the bad ones". Hancock stood up and walked over to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her. She was shorter then him, the top of her head was level with the bottom of his chin. "Have you been in this hell hole your whole life?"

Nicole froze under Hancock's touch. She looked away from the door and glanced at Hancock's hand on her shoulder. It's been so long since she felt touch that wasn't trying to hurt her. It felt weird and awkward. "I've never left this place, I was raised here. Eddie was nice at first when I was younger and I even called him father at one point, but as I got older he got angry and violent, eventually telling me to stop calling him father. He was especially violent while he was drunk." Nicole shrugged Hancock's hand off her shoulder and walked away from him to sit in a chair.

"He never said exactly why he was so angry and violent with me, I figured it was because I had done something wrong, but I think it was because I had became so ugly, he never missed a chance to tell me how disgusted he was with how I looked."

Nicole looked at her ugly, pale and lifeless skin then at Hancock's beautifully scarred skin. "Maybe if I was less hideous and looked more like you or Eddie he would have been more happy with me."

Hancock wasn't sure what to say. Here in front of him was a beautiful woman saying she was ugly and wished to look more like him.

She has got to be joking, he thought as he stood there by the locked door, speechless for the first time in his life.

Nicole looked towards the back room where the cryo pod was "Last time I saw Eddie I could tell he was drunk as threw me into that cryo pod. He was acting strange and didn't say anything. He was shaking and was having a hard time getting the IV into my arm. As the door went down he looked back at me through the window with tears in his eye's. It was the tears in his eyes that finally scared me about the whole thing, he would slap me every time I cried. That was the first time I ever saw him cry. He then placed his hand on the window and he faded away as I was frozen. Next thing I know I'm falling out of that pod and into your arms."

Nicole shifted and shook her head trying to think about how long she had been in the cryo. "I don't know how long I was in that thing , Just that it only seamed like moments ago to me that Eddie was still alive."

Nicole looked back at Eddie's mutilated body and shook her head again.

Hancock saw she was shaking a bit, but was emotionless otherwise. Probably from the shock of everything or because she was still warming up from being in cryo sleep. Hancock looked at the dead corps of Eddie and vowed to find the person who killed him to give them a big bag of caps. He shook his head at the thought of anyone hurting this beautiful creature sitting in front of him.

Hancock looked around the room and knew she couldn't live here any longer. But hell , the commonwealth is going to eat her whole and shit her out in less then an hour with her current level of street smarts.

Without a pause or second thought of any consequences he looked at the woman. "Why don't you come with me to GoodNeighbor doll, you can live there with me and my fiance Nora until your ready to live on your own." Hancock spoke as he walked over to her and knelt down so they were eye to eye.

Nicole looked at his deep black eyes. Nicole felt like she would be happy for the rest of her life if she could look into those eyes forever. "You would want a hideous freak like me walking around with you?" Nicole shook her head. " No, I'll stay here, ugly people like me need to stay hidden away where people like you don't have to look at me." She hid her face with her hands not wanting Hancock to see it anymore.

Hancock was speechless for the second time of his life. He thought she was just joking the first time she called herself ugly. Could she truly believe she was ugly?

Hancock's face darkened as he realized she truly thought she was hideous. What kind of fucked up shit did Eddie have her thinking. Hancock gently took hold of her small hands covering her face and pulled them down gently. "Doll face, You are not ugly, you are far fucking from it, and yes I would be more than happy to have someone who looks like you walking by my side, and if anyone decides to fuck with you they will have me, Mayor John Hancock to answer too." Hancock smiled at her, then stood up and took a few steps back from her.

"Now, why don't you tell me your name doll?" Hancock dramatically put his hands on his hips.

"Nicole" was all he got out of her. He could hear voice crack a little as she said it. Hancock could tell she was still trying to hold back on her emotions.

Probably something fucking Eddie forced her to do. She lowered her face and took a deep ragged breath. With a long sigh she looked up at Hancock with a faked smile and a lone tear in her eye. Hancock could see a deep sadness slowly taking over her amber eyes. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and comfort her, but remembered how she reacted when he had touched her shoulder.

Nicole quickly wiped the lone tear away "I'm starting to like this Doll name you keep calling me, Eddie always spit my name out like it burned his mouth to just say it" Nicole then looked back at Eddie.

Hancock wanted more then ever to get her out of this fucking hell hole. "All right then Doll, I would say let's leave now, but without ammo or guns that might prove hard with that damn group of raiders still looking for me." Hancock started to pace around the room trying to think of a way to get them out of here.

"Eddie has a big room with guns, ammo and armor by the cryo pod." Nicole smiled again as she stood up, walked over to Eddie's body. She tried to pull a ring from his finger, but it was stuck. Hancock pulled out his knife and was about to walk over to Nicole to help her when he heard the finger snap. Nicole dropped the finger and held the ring up.

Nicole then motioned for Hancock to follow her as she walked back to the room with the cryo pod.

When they got back in the room, Nicole walked over to a wall, put the ring on and swiped her hand across a panel. With a series of clicks the wall slid up revealing what was behind it.

Hancock stood there for a moment to take in the glorious sight that was in front of him. His eyes lit up and a big shit eating grin spread across his face as he took a step forward.

"Fuck yeah."


	3. Escape

When the door slid open Hancock was looking into another room. A fucking X-01 power armor stood in front of Hancock. It wasn't complete, but there was enough there that Hancock knew he could do some serious damage with it alone. Hancock then saw the walls were filled from top to bottom, wall to wall, with every gun Hancock could think of. The sight of it made him feel warm and tingly with excitement. There was no way in hell he would be able to carry even a third of it all. Even while wearing the power armor.

"Eddie always said he liked to be prepared for anything." Nicole said as she watched Hancock's face explode into the biggest smile she ever saw.

Hancock checked out the power armor to see if it had a fusion core. It had one sitting in the chamber ready to go and it was charged at full capacity. When Hancock looked around the room he saw three more fusion cores sitting on top of a wooden cigar box. When Hancock picked up the Fusion cores. He saw the word Nicole in large cursive letters sprawled across the top. Hancock picked it up, turned to Nicole and handed it to her. "I think this belongs to you."

Nicole took the box and looked at it confused. It was Eddie's hand writing. When she opened the box all it had in it was an envelope, a picture and a Holotape.

Nicole looked at the picture and there was a pre ghoul Eddie with a beautiful blond woman with striking amber eye's. She wore a red sequin dress and Eddie was wearing a tuxedo. Nicole never saw Eddie that happy in her whole life. She put the picture down and picked up the envelope.

When Nicole opened the envelope she found a letter written in the same big cursive hand writing that was on the cigar box.

Dear Nicole,

If you are reading this then I have died and your Cryo pod must have finally powered down. There is enough armor, ammo and bullets here for you to equip a small army. I know you won't have any problems with any of it. You know I'm not much for this kind of shit so I'm just going lay it out for you. When I saved you, you were to be a revenge gift for a man who stole something dear to is more about that on the Holotape. The Holotape will tell you who your real parents are and why I did, what I did.

It was when the hospital finally brought you to me that I changed my mind about everything I had originally planned for you and kept you. The bombs that dropped helped change things also. You became the daughter I never got to have. I'm sorry for all the abuse I put you through when you got older. The bigger you got the more you looked like the two people I had come to hate the most in this fucked up world. It would piss me off dearly every time I looked at you and saw them together in your face. I should have known better when I looked into your beautiful amber eyes and saw your greasy black fucking hair. You were still just a small baby so I had hoped that maybe you would grow up looking different.

God how I hated that fucking man. I'm sorry to say that hatred shifted to you the more you started to look like him. I knew that it would only be a mater of time before even your mother's eyes wouldn't be able to protect you. It's been 100 years now since I threw you in that cryo pod one last time to protect you from me. Listen to that Holotape. It's been encrypted and your going to need help hacking it. Get in that power armor and line it up to NW. It will take you to a place called Diamond city. There are people there who will help you. Well there's no need in dwelling on the past any longer. What's done is done. He's gone, your mothers gone and now I'm gone. Just get in that fucking power armor and go out into the fucking world and live.

Eddie.

Nicole didn't understand what she was feeling as she ripped up the paper and let it fall to the ground. Her face was blank and didn't show anything that was stirring with in her. Eddie had taught her that showing your emotions were a sign of weakness. She long ago perfected the art of hiding her emotions to keep from being slapped or beaten by him. Nicole let out a sigh as she hoped to someday know what had happened to her real parents. She tried to ask Eddie once after he told her in a drunk fit of rage she wasn't his daughter. He nearly beat her to death for just asking about them. She never really knew how much time would pass between each time she was in the Cryo, but after that beating, it felt like Eddie would let out less and less.

Hancock put his hand on her shoulder as she stared blankly into a wall lost in her thoughts over what she had just read. She knew better to expect anything less from Eddie. That's when she remembered the Holotape in the box and picked it up to look at it. Nicole had a sudden urge to smash it to bits, but her curiosity over rode her emotions.

"Ya gonna be ok Doll?" Hancock asked as he gently squeezed her shoulder to reassure her then took his hand back unsure of what to do.

"Yeah I'll be fine." Nicole replied as she walked over to the terminal and placed the Holotape in.

The screen popped up with a bunch of random words and symbols she didn't understand.

Hancock looked at the screen and shook his head "It's encrypted, unless you know how to hack that Shit, I wouldn't touch it."

"How do I hack it?" Nicole asked as she ejected the Holotape.

"Fuck if I know, that's why I have friends who know how to do that shit. Last time I tried to hack a computer, I was high on jet and ended up blasting a hole through the terminal with my shot gun. Fahrenheit was so fucking pissed when she found out I shot her terminal." Hancock smiled at the memory.

"Who's Fahrenheit ?" Nicole asked.

"She's kind of my adopted daughter. I had rescued her from gunners when she was about 16. When we get out of here and back to GoodNeighbor I'll tell you the whole story."

"Eddie had wrote in his letter that there were people in a place called Diamond city that could hack this." Nicole stood up and looked at the Holotape in her hands.

"Yeah, he's right. I've got an old friend there that's a genius with hacking computers. Probably helps he's a computer his self, but I'm not to fond of Diamond city, place is full of assholes, but for you doll, I'll take you there after we get to GoodNeighbor " Hancock then wondered back to the room with the power armor. Nicole followed Hancock not sure about what to do with her new found freedom from Eddie. She thought about what Hancock had said and wondered how a terminal could be an old friend. Maybe Hancock was really attached to it.

Hancock then walked up to a wall that held the small pistols and picked up a .44 and some ammo. "But first, we've got to fight our way back to GoodNeighbor. Do ya know how to use a gun sister?" Hancock asked Nicole as he looked at her.

Nicole looked Hancock dead in the eyes and with out looking way or blinking she picked up a small .10mm hand gun and pointed it at the wall where three vases stood. While she stared deep into his black eyes she pulled the trigger three times and three flower vases exploded into pieces of broken ceramic on the ground. "Eddie taught me how to shoot guns before he decided to make me his human punching bag, probably why he kept them locked up every time I was out. "Nicole couldn't help but genuinely feel proud of the look Hancock now had on his scarred face. She allowed a smile to flicker at the corner of her mouth.

Hancock was speechless. He didn't expect her to know how to shoot a gun let alone have perfect fucking aim with it. He never felt so fucking turned on before. He had to force himself to imagine what MaMa murphy must look like naked to keep his pants from getting tight. He had to remind his self that he was already engaged in a hot and heavy relationship with Nora. Hancock shook his head to snap his self out of it and gave Nicole a smile " Well, at least Eddie finally did something right."

Suddenly the lights flickered and a quiet beeping started to sound off. Hancock followed the sound and saw it was coming from the terminal on the desk by the Cryo pod.

FUSION CORE REQUIRED

AUX POWER AT 10% SYSTEM WILL SHUTDOWN IN 20 MINUTES

Hancock turned and looked at Nicole "We got 15 minutes to get our shit together and five minutes to get our asses out the door." Hancock tried to help Nicole put on some heavy military armor, but with her small frame the armor just fell off. Hancock was able to at least get some leg and arm armor on her. He didn't like leaving her main body unprotected.

Nicole had found a leather messenger bag that went across her chest to put her few belongings in. She owned two other plain dresses, a blue one and a purple one. She had a green one, but was destroyed by the constant Cryo freezing.

Nicole chose a small bull barrel .44. And .10mm. She packed some extra bullets and hid a combat knife in the strap of her pack. She tried to pack the photo and Holotape, but Nicole ended up having to take them to Hancock. "Hey, could you take these for me? my pack is too full, maybe you can have your friend hack the Holotape for me?"

Hancock took the photo and Holotape. With a smile and a nod he put them in the chest pocket in his red coat. "Sure thing Doll."

Hancock walked over to the power armor and turned the round latch on the back of the power armor. Hancock smiled as it opened it self up to let him in. It had an X-01 helmet and torso but was missing the arms and legs. Hancock figured that would be ok since he considered his head and body his essential parts anyway. You could live with out an arm or a leg, but it would be harder to live with a hole in your head or holes in your chest.

They had about seven minutes left by the time they were all suited up and ready to go. They were standing at the locked door that led out to the tunnels. Hancock looked at Nicole and saw she was bone white but showed no other emotion. Hancock was worried about her. This was going to be a whole new life full of new things for her to experience. Hancock wondered if she would be able to handle it. "Well Doll face, ya ready?" He asked as he put his hand on her shoulder to help calm her nerves.

"No, I don't think I'll ever be ready" she said as she tapped the keyboard on the terminal and watched in silent horror as the door appeared to open in slow motion. She watched as Hancock went on ahead of her through the dark door.

With a deep breath Nicole slung the messenger bag stap over her head and picked up her .44 and followed Hancock out.

The air smelled horrible. She never smelled anything so bad in her life. Nicole followed Hancock up some stairs next to a giant red pipe. The temperature was so different. It was clammy and cool. "Is the whole world like this?" Nicole asked Hancock in disappointment, where were the tree's and sun light Eddie reminisced so much about?

"Damn, you weren't lying when you said you were raised in that bunker. This is just a tunnel Doll, we'll be out soon enough and you'll get to see the real…..." Hancock didn't get to finish as they suddenly heard shouting up ahead.

Hancock motioned for Nicole to hide and stay quiet behind him as he crouched down to be quieter his self.

"What the FUCK do you mean HE just fucking disappeared. HE was wearing a DAMN red coat and was headed towards the station FUCKING wounded. You know what E.M. will do if he finds out we FUCKED this mission up."

"Yeah but we been up and down this whole fucking tunnel and the son of a bitch is no where to be found ass hole."

Hancock and Nicole heard a gunshot and a grunt then something dropped to the ground with a sick thump.

"Now, who the FUCK wants to go look for that FUCKING ghoul mayor and blow his Damn BRAINS OUT?"

Hancock had a feeling it was weird how well organized these raiders were. They were well equipped and worked well together. Who the fuck was E.M.? Hancock stood up and motioned for Nicole to stay as he rounded the corner to face the raiders.

"No one's blowing my fucking brains out just yet, but your brains on the other hand.." Hancock pointed the gun at the man and pulled the trigger. The mans head was only about three feet away and it snapped back as the shot gun spray peppered his face and killed him.

That's when the other raiders jumped into action and started shooting at Hancock. He could hear the bullets pinging off his power armor. He aimed his shot gun at the next raider and killed him the same way he killed the first. Hancock quickly unloaded the empty rounds and put in two more. There were three more raiders and one of them was the woman from earlier that had been taunting him to come out and play.

Hancock used the butt of his shot gun to bash her in the face. "I'm here to play bitch just like you asked me to." The woman fell to her knees dazed. Hancock pulled out his knife and stabbed the man on his right in the stomach three times before he shot him point blank in the head. The man gargled blood and fell to his knees. The other man looked at Hancock then at the other dead raiders. He threw his hands up and let his crudely made pipe pistol fall to the ground. "Man, fuck this shit, this is not what I signed up for." He turned and ran away from Hancock.

"Wise choice asshole, don't ever let me see you again or your dead." Hancock then shot the wall next to the man just to make a point. With a comical yelp the man ran even faster.

The woman at Hancock's feet moaned as she started to come back to her senses. Hancock grabbed her by her braided hair and lifted her up. The woman screamed in pain and Hancock lowered her down to her feet so she could stand. He hated hurting any women, but she pissed him off and he needed answers. He kept ahold of her hair but didn't pull on it. "Why the fuck were you trying to kill me? " Hancock demanded.

The woman struggled to get away from Hancock but realized it was useless. "You going to rape me and eat my fucking flesh ghoul?"

"The fuck would I do that? I'm John fucking Hancock Mayor of GoodNeighbor. I've had women begging me to sleep with them. An as far as eating of flesh goes, well lets just say women beg for me to do that too." Used to, Hancock thought. That was his life before he fell madly in love with Nora, but this raider didn't need to know that.

"We were ordered to kill the Mayor of GoodNeighbor as a message to that fucking vault dweller, that ghoul fucking whore that destroyed the Prydwyn" The woman said as she continued to struggle.

Her armor shifted and Hancock could see part of a familiar tattoo peaking out from under. He used his free hand to move the fabric to get a better look. He felt his blood turn cold when everything clicked into place.

"E.M. that's Elder Maxson am I right? your not a fucking raider, you're apart of that fucking brotherhood." Hancock watched as her face faltered slightly. That was enough to let him know he was right. He had to get out of here and make sure Nora was ok. Hancock wasn't about to start killing women, even if she was brotherhood trash and pissed him off. Hancock gave her a quick tap to the back of her head knocking her out cold. He hid her under a dead body incase there were ghouls here. They don't care for dead flesh. Only fresh.

"Nicole, it's ok to come out." Hancock turned to face her and saw she was being held by a man. He had her arm pinned behind her and a knife to her throat. Her face was just as emotionless as ever. The man had raw pink flesh on his face and scalp from being burned horrifically, he had a massive scar across his face. His beard was short and missing in some places where the burns and scar ran through it. He was wearing that same fucking pilot coat.

"So, your Nora's pet fucking ghoul. What does that make this woman, your fuck toy? That why you keep her hidden down here?"

Hancock barely recognized him but he knew it was Elder Maxson. Hancock could feel his blood boil. "Oh I'm about to go feral on your fucked up face." Hancock cocked his shot gun and aimed it for Maxson's head.

"I wouldn't do that, not when you could loose this pretty piece of ass, I'll kill her before you can even squeeze that fucking trigger." Maxson pressed the blade of his knife harder on Nicol's neck. Blood seeped from her as the blade went deeper into her skin. He was not acting like Maxson Hancock remembered.

Nora had snuck Hancock aboard the Prydwyn in power armor once. She needed his help with finding Danse after finding out he was a synth. This Maxson that stood in front of him sounded evil and desperate for revenge. Here stood a man who was once great but fell from glory and was now hell bent on destroying the one who made him fall and broke his spirit.

"That vault dweller cunt of yours took everything and everyone I loved and held dear and blew it up with the Prydwyn. Now I'm going to do the same to her. I'm going to start with her fucking friends, then that fucking synth abomination son of hers. Then I'm going to enjoy myself as I watch her slowly writhe in agony as I burn her flesh off like mine was. If she survives being burned. I'll make her my ….." he grunted loudly in pain. Nicole had took the knife she had hidden in her strap and stabbed it into Maxson's leg. Nicole ran from the man the moment she had stabbed him and he lost grip of her.

"You fucking whore I'm going to kill…" Hancock looked down the sights of his shot gun and aimed it for Maxson's face.

Hancock had saw her neck was bleeding where Maxson had held his blade to her throat. It royally pissed Hancock off.

Hancock pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

He was empty.

In his anger Hancock had forgotten how many bullets he had left.

"Fuck!" Hancock threw the shot gun in anger at Maxson and hit him in the face with the butt of it. Hancock pulled out his knife and started towards Maxson.

Maxson turned away from Hancock as blood ran down his face and bolted down the dark tunnel. The power armor slowed Hancock down and Maxson was gone before He took three steps.

Hancock yelled in rage and hit the wall next to him. He felt a little satisfied as the wall broke under his power armor fist. He turned to Nicole and saw she was trying to hold a piece of fabric from the hem of her dress on her neck wound her blood was bright red on her pale skin.

Nicole had stayed behind Hancock when he motioned for her to. She knew She was a dead shot when it came to shooting cans and vases, but the thought of shooting someone made her have indescribable bad feelings that made her stomach sick.

She dreamed of killing Eddie every time he would beat her, but she could never bring her self to do it.

Nicole listened as Hancock fired his gun and that raider fell. She was surprised as she felt a hand grab her face from behind covering her mouth to keep her from screaming. She felt cold steel press against the skin below her left jaw. Someone quietly whispered into her ear there lips brushing against her ear. "Make one damn fucking sound and I'll cut you open cunt." Nicole nodded to let him know she heard him. He let go of her mouth and grabbed her left arm and twisted it roughly behind her nearly popping her shoulder blade out of socket. Nicole held back her fear and made no noise of her discomfort.

"Nicole it's ok to come out." Hancock called from around the corner. The man that was holding Nicole was strong and was able to drag her easily into Hancock's view. She watched as Hancock paused and stood motionless like a statue made of power armor.

Nicole could hear the men talk as she ignored them and focused on her bag strap where she had hid the combat knife. She knew the man holding her would be too distracted talking to Hancock to notice her moving. She had her right hand on the hilt of her combat knife when she felt the man dig the blade of his knife deeper into her, pain radiated from her neck. She learned long ago how to mentally block pain.

She quickly pulled on her combat knife and in one quick swift motion down she slammed the blade deep into his thigh. She heard him grunt loudly in pain as he lost grip of her arm and momentarily took the knife from her throat to pull the combat knife out of his thigh.

She was out of his grasp and behind Hancock before the man even knew she was gone.

She touched her fingers to her neck and saw they were bloody when she looked down at them. The cut was just below her jaw close to her ear. It didn't feel too deep to her. Nicole guessed it was about three inches long. She knew the cut it's self was not life threatening but needed to dress it somehow to keep infection out and stop the bleeding.

She tore a strip of fabric from the hem of her dress and applied as much pressure as she could handle to the wound to slow the bleeding. She needed a stimpack, but they didn't have any. They looked all over Eddie's bunker before leaving it but they only found a pile of empty stimpacks in a trashcan.

Nicole struggled a bit with the fabric before she felt strong warm hands take the fabric from her. She looked around to see Hancock was out of his power armor. He was looking at her neck with worry on his face. "With out a stimpack we'll have to take care of this the old fashion way Doll."

Hancock was still pissed off about Maxson as he climbed out of the power armor and walked over to Nicole and knelt down to help her.

He gently took the wad of cloth from her hand as she was startled from her thoughts and looked at him. Hancock cringed at what he saw. The cut on her neck split open when she moved her head and he saw it was worse then he originally thought. She was bleeding, but not as much as she could be had he nicked her artery. Every time she moved her head it would reopen and bleed as the wound was too big to seal it's self closed. If he didn't do something she would eventually bleed out in a few hours or less. "Without out a stimpack we'll have to take care of this the old fashion way Doll." Hancock reached into one of his pockets and pulled out some medical grade thread he had found long ago at one of the hospitals and a needle.

Nicole looked at him puzzled. "How is that going to help?" She asked as Hancock pulled out the bottle of moonshine he had found in the bunker. He noticed Nicole stiffened at the sight of the bottle.

"Its all right Doll, I'm not drinking that, its just to sterilize the needle." Hancock poured the shine over the needle and medical thread. He then strung the thread into the needle. He couldn't count the times he had to do this to him self when he was out of stimpacks and needed to close a wound until he got one.

"I'm going to close your wound with stiches until we get you to GoodNeighbor where I've got stimpacks. I'm not going to lie to ya Doll this will hurt. But you need to be stitched up or your going to eventually bleed out." Nicole never heard of stitching a wound closed, but in some way it made sense. She nodded her head and pulled her hair back out of his way.

Hancock positioned the needle over her skin dreading what he was about to do to her. Then an idea crossed his mind." You could take a shot of that moonshine for pain?" Hancock handed her the bottle.

Nicole shook her head. "No, Eddie never allowed me to drink, I tried to take a sip one time and he grabbed me by the hair and told me ladies don't drink, and that if he ever caught me trying to drink, he would make me regret it."

Hancock shook his head. The more he heard about Eddie the bigger the bag of caps got for the person who killed him. Hancock was going to have to ask Nick to hunt this person down. Hancock wished there was someway to bring Eddie back just so he could kill Eddie again. Hancock hated men like that. He reserved special punishment for men who hurt women.

Hancock continued to hold the bottle out to her. "Eddies dead and gone Doll, your free to do what you want now. You want to drink till you pass out, then I say have fun while your doing it." Nicole smiled her first genuine smile . She looked at the bottle and shook her head. "Alcohol thins the blood. If you say I'm going to bleed out then maybe I should save this for later."

Hancock looked at her and had to take a deep breath knowing the pain this was going to cause her. She put the bottle to the side and tilted her neck to Hancock. Again he placed the needle against her skin and started to close her wound.

Nicole held in her pain as Hancock worked with surprisingly skilled hands. "How did you learn to do something like that?" Nicole asked barely able to keep the pain from leaking into the sound of her voice. She heard him talk, but the pain kept her from focusing on the words he was saying. It was more the sound of his voice that she focused on.

"I learned this from that old friend in Diamond city I told you about. His Name is Nick. He's an old gen synth . I used to lived there when I was younger, had smoother skin, blue eyes and blond hair. The first time Nick showed me how to do this, I was about twelve. My older brother and I had got into a fight and he had hit me in the forehead with a fucking rock. When he saw all the blood on my face he freaked out and ran. He left me dazed and bleeding. Thankfully Nick saw the whole thing and took me to his detective agency. That was before he had those gaudy neon pink signs put in place. You'll see them when you go to Diamond city. He showed me how to sterilize the needle and how to stich the wound shut. After that I was always grateful towards him. Nick taught me so much. I would bash any of the other kids who tried to throw rocks at him or bad mouth him."

Hancock put the last stich in place and used his knife to cut the thread. He tore a piece off the fabric Nicole had torn from before and poured some moonshine on it. He used it to clean her wound. Hancock then took the rest of the fabric and wrapped it loosely around her neck to protect the cut from dust and dirt. "There Doll, all finished, lets get the fuck out of this depressing place."

Hancock stood up and held out his hand to her. She had a dazed look on her face as she was still focused on mentally blocking the pain. She let out a deep breath and took his hand and stood up. She then turned from Hancock and picked up the moonshine. "Can't forget this, I figure I'll drink it to my new freedom once we make it to that town of yours." Nicole handed it to Hancock and he put the bottle back in his sack. "We're going to have one hell of a fucking party at the third rail love, you'll get good and shit faced." Hancock got back into the power armor and walked ahead.

Nicole followed Hancock up a set of stairs and watched him climb up a ladder and open a hatch. Nicole placed her hand on the ladder and felt her self feel like she was moving in slow motion as she pulled herself up and out.

The air was so fresh compared to the tunnels and bunker. It was indescribable with her limited vocabulary of the world what she was smelling. It was also very bright. She saw bright light pouring in through the openings of the walls. She followed Hancock from behind the counter and through the door. She had to squint as the bright light went into her eyes like knives. She had to back up into the shade of the building the light was so bright. Hancock looked back at her and saw her squinting.

"You ok Doll?" Nicole was a whirlwind of many things. She had feelings that she couldn't name filling her. They were not bad but made her want to laugh like a mad woman. "Its so bright, is that light from the sun?" Nicole asked as she had to sit or she was going to fall from the dizzying bright light and emotions that were swirling through her mind and body.

"No Doll, that's light from a full moon." Hancock walked back to her and saw her eyes were tearing up. Nicole tried to look at him but couldn't. He then realized the light was hurting her. He knew the feeling all to well. It reminded him of those days where he stayed inside with a massive hangover doing paperwork for the town. Then walking out to the bright ass day to take a breather from the paperwork.

Only with her it was so much worse. Her eyes never saw light brighter then what was in the bunker her whole life. Hancock looked around at some long dead raiders that he didn't remember seeing when he first ran into this building. He looked around them to see if any of them had sunglasses. All he could come up with were welding goggles. Hancock walked back and handed them to Nicole. She put them on and looked around and smiled. "Thank you Hancock, that's much better." He smiled as he realized that was the first time she said his name. He was about to ask her to just call him John when suddenly she paused and pulled out her .10 mm and aimed it at something behind him.

" What is that?" she asked as she cocked the gun ready to kill whatever was behind Hancock.


	4. New world

_This is a very long chapter. But it was hard and fun to write. I will probably have to re edit it a few times since it is easier for me to see the errors after uploading it and reading it on the fan-fic web site. My apologies for it being so raw out of the gate. Other then that enjoy. I know I enjoyed reading it. I never know how the story is going . I'm literally reading it as I go. So I'm in suspense in what my tired self has in store. My tired self writes the story before I go to bed and I edit it after waking up._

Hancock turned to look at what Nicole was pointing her gun at. He was startled at first as it looked like a baby naked mole. It was tiny, hairless and harmless. It gave a week meow as it walked closer to them. Hancock placed his hand on Nicole's gun and pushed it down. "Don't shoot, it's a kitten doll, one of he most harmless creatures of the commonwealth." Hancock used some squirrel bits that they had found preserved in the bunker to encourage the hairless kitten to come closer.

As soon as the kitten smelled meat it ran to Hancock. Hancock gave it the food and picked it up before it could run. The kitten held the meat in it's mouth and growled in a cute tiny kitten growl. Hancock had never seen a hairless cat. This is the first one he's seen. It was scrawny and it's bones were showing through its skin. The kitten was so small it fit in his hand. It was probably still nursing from mama cat before something must have happened to her.

Hancock looked around for something to put the kitten in. He found nothing. Then he got an idea. He handed the kitten to Nicole "Hold on to," Hancock took a peek under the tail "her doll, I need to rearrange a few things in my bag" Hancock took his bag that held his supplies from Nicole. It wasn't a big bag, but it was a back pack big enough for his hat some hand guns, ammo and a few provisions. Nicole was carrying it with her leather messenger bag so Hancock could have maximum maneuverability with the power armor.

Nicole took the hairless thing Hancock called a kitten. He had fed it food and now it appeared happy and sleepy. When Nicole stroked it's soft head it started to vibrate and made a weird rumbling sound that was oddly soothing. She held it to her chest as it curled up and closed it's eye's. Nicole had never seen an animal but Eddie had talked about them when she was a little girl.

Hancock laughed "I can hear it purring all the way over here." Nicole looked at it and guessed the rumbling sound must be called purring.

Hancock walked back to her and gently took the tiny purring creature. He had put a piece of torn fabric in the bottom of his hat that he had turned upside down and placed at the top of his bag. He put more squirrel bits in it and placed the kitten on top of the nest his hat made for it. Hancock pulled the flap over the top and secured his bag. The kitten had a big enough hole for It to stick it's nose out if needed. Fahrenheit was going to kill him for bringing home a stray, he then glanced at Nicole and corrected his self, two strays.

Hancock handed Nicole back his bag And noticed she winced with slight pain as she stood up and put the bag on her back. "You sure you can carry that?" Hancock took a step towards her to take the bag back.

Nicole slightly shook her head with another wince "I can't block the pain if I can't feel the pain." Nicole smiled "Besides it will do me some good to build my muscles back up carrying all this." She straitened up and took a few steps closer to Hancock to let him know she was ready to go.

"All right, then lets get this freak show on the road Doll." Hancock turned and lead Nicole out the door.

Nicole followed Hancock and was thankful for the welding goggles he had found for her. The air was so fresh and clean compared to what she was used to. Nicole looked up and saw the open sky for the first time in her life. The sky was beautiful and terrifying. There was little sparkles of light throughout the whole sky. She saw a giant silver orb and remembered Hancock called that a moon. She looked ahead of her and saw a building that was crumbled in front of her and a large tall skinny thing with many smaller skinny things on top sticking out of the ground next to the building.

Nicole saw black things fly from the thing as they gave out shrill cries at being disturbed. Those were crows. Nicole remembered what they were from a bird magazine Eddie had in his small magazine library. Most of the other magazines were of naked women and he never allowed her to see those.

She remembered reading in the magazine that a group of crows were called a murder. She watched as the murder of crows flew away. Eddie had said birds lived in trees. So the tall skinny thing must be a tree. He had taught her what he could about the outside world when she was a little girl, but with no pictures she could only imagine everything.

As Nicole followed Hancock she saw a giant wore out sign that read 'gray tortoise Famous cigarettes'. Below it was a plant with beautiful blue things in it. Nicole walked over to the plant and took a closer look at the blue things. She heard Hancock walk up behind her.

"That's a hubflower Doll." Hancock reached down and picked one placing it in her hair. The blue was brilliant against her long braided black hair "Beautiful flower for a beautiful girl." Even though Hancock was talking through the built-in speaker of the power suit his voice and compliment made her blush. She felt feelings well up in her again that she couldn't name but was starting to enjoy.

Hancock scolded his self when he saw Nicole blush. He was unintentionally flirting with her and he had to stop before he hurt her. Hancock watched as she looked around and saw everything for the first time. He watched her stare at the pile of tires under the sign and then the broken burned out cars. " What are those?" she asked pointing at them.

"Those Doll were once called cars. They can both hurt and help you. If you see some one your trying to kill hide behind one, shoot the car. It will explode like a hand grenade. These ones wont explode since it looks like someone had already done that. Ones like these are safe to hide behind. Never hide behind a nice one other people know they explode and won't hesitant to blow you up with one." Hancock turned and kept walking on the road leading west. GoodNeighbor should be north of here, but they had to go west a bit to avoid walking through the water. Hancock kept heading west until he saw a road leading north.

They passed an Abraxo sign and Hancock heard the unmistakable sound of a sentry bot. He looked around and saw one at a red rocket truck stop to his left. He motioned for Nicole to stay quiet and too the right as they passed unseen. The abraxo billboard helping them to stay out of the sentry bots view.

Hancock continued on until he got to a kind of fork in the road by an old billboard selling a truck. He looked around at his choices. Continue on the road to his left and deal with everything between here and GoodNeighbor, or go to the right down a road he was unfamiliar with. He then noticed the over pass and saw there was an on ramp right there in front of him leading up to it. Hancock followed the over pass with his eyes and guessed it was the one that had to be almost over GoodNeighbor. If he was right then this would be the best route since overpasses are seldom used. It would bypass all the street bramashit.

Hancock motioned for Nicole to follow him as he moved forward towards the on ramp. Hancock had to help Nicole walk up and over a metal sign that had fallen across the guard rail. They walked on and had to climb a piece of the fallen pavement from the higher over pass. Hancock had to stop for a moment as the view to the water opened up to his right, showing a spectacular moon lit view of the bay.

Nicole stopped when Hancock had stopped and looked out in the direction he was looking. What she saw made her stop and look. The water was sparkling with the moon light. She had never seen so much water before in her life. She could see the lights twinkling above . The way the moon sparkled off the water and the way the lights lit the sky it all looked like one sparkling world.

Nicole turned to look at Hancock and saw he was walking on. She had to take a few quick steps to catch up. They walked on in silence as they passed old cars. Nicole could see the tops of old buildings over the edges of the metal railing that was on each side of the path they walked. She saw a building on her right that was taller then the structure she was walking on. She saw an odd face painted in white on the side of the building. "Hey Hancock what's that?" she pointed at it and Hancock turned to look.

"Ah, fuck. That means gunners have claimed this area. With it being dark they're probably aslee…." A sudden explosion that shook the overpass cut Hancock off. It came from up ahead over the hill. Hancock motioned for Nicole to stay behind him as they quietly climbed the hill. When they got at the top of the hill they could hear gun shots going off and more explosions.

Nicole saw heavily armored men and women fighting giant green people. She heard Hancock curse silently "Fucking mutants and Gunners, should have fucking known this shit would happen. Nicole, get your gun out and be ready, we might have to fight." Hancock pulled out his shot gun and made sure it was loaded "Keep track of how many bullets you have." Nicole knew Hancock meant business when he used her real name. She pulled out her .10 mm and made sure it was loaded. She nodded at Hancock to let him know she was ready.

They waited a moment to see when the best time to take action was. Hancock watched as the mutants killed the last gunner. He counted three mutants and one mutant hound. The mutants were celebrating their victory when Hancock noticed a suicider mutant walk away from the group. He needed to be the first one taken out. The rest would be easy after that. Hancock knew his shot gun range wouldn't reach that far so he turned to Nicole "See that mutant holding the green thing with the red blinking light?"

Nicole looked then nodded when she saw it. She still felt uneasy about shooting living things, but knew it had to be done to stay alive.

"Doll, we 're going to start this party with a bang, shoot the thing with the red light." He didn't even have a moment to blink before the mutant suddenly exploded with a loud and defining explosion as the mini nuke it was carrying blew up. Parts of him went flying everywhere. The explosion even took out one of the other mutants. Hancock didn't have a moment to enjoy the aftermath as the Mutant hound had caught there scent and howled in there direction before charging at them. Hancock stood up and ran to the Hound aiming his shot gun between its eyes.

It took two shots from Hancock's gun to put the hound down. The other two mutants were shouting at him and were running at him. One had a broken board the other had a gun. The one with the board ran at him board held high. Hancock quickly unloaded his shot gun and was trying to reload it when the mutant with the board was nearly on him. Hancock looked up ready to block a hit from the mutant when he saw a hole suddenly appeared between it's eyes, a drop of blood fell from the hole down it's nose and into it's mouth. The mutant stopped dead in his tracks board still held up ready to hit Hancock. The mutant fell back with the momentum of the bullet that had gone through his head. Hancock didn't miss a beat as he reloaded his gun and ran to the last mutant.

Nicole watched as Hancock shot that hound twice and it rolled across the ground with the force of Hancock's shot gun. She watched as the big mutant had ran to Hancock and was getting ready to hit him with some big tree limb thing. She didn't even have to look through the sight of her gun as she aimed from her hip and pulled the trigger. The bullet went right between the eyes of the mutant and it stopped cold. It fell backwards as the momentum of her bullet snapped its head back.

With out warning, Nicole felt a sharp pain in her back above her left shoulder, like someone had punched her hard in the back. When she turned it was a gunner. He had his hand in a fist and an odd look on his face that was a mix of surprise and confusion. Nicole was surprised to see he didn't look like Hancock or Eddie but had smooth skin like her self. The way Eddie treated her she thought she was the odd one.

Nicole raised her gun and shot him point blank in the head like she did with the Mutant. His head snapped back with a spray of blood from his face. He fell back and bounced as his body hit the ground. The pain in her left shoulder still lingering, he must have punched her hard. She turned back to Hancock and watched as he shot the last Mutant in the face. He fell back and disappeared over the metal rail on the edge of the overpass.

Nicole ran up to Hancock and saw he had blood dropping from his left arm where a bullet must have hit him. "That's the second fucking time, at least we'll be in GoodNeighbor soon." He looked at Nicole and smiled when he saw she was ok. "Nice to see someone who can hold their own for a change. I was worried you would be full of holes. Thanks for covering my ass back there Doll" Hancock turned and walked on north.

Nicole felt her body humming with the excitement of the encounter. She could feel the blood flowing through her veins. She kind of wished there were more things to shoot. She didn't think she would enjoy killing, but fighting with someone you had feelings for and seeing them alive and mostly safe was a new feeling of happy she never knew she could feel. "I didn't want to see anything bad happen to you after what you done for me so far" she had to jog up to Hancock to catch up to him. Hancock stopped walking and turned to her.

Nicole smiled when he looked at her. Her flower was crooked in her hair. With out thinking Hancock reached out and straightened it for her. "There now your ready to see my town. Come on love, lets go home." He turned away from Nicole quickly and continued ahead.

Hancock had to turn and walk away from Nicole. He so desperately wanted to take off his helmet and kiss her blood red lips. He was glad he was in this power suit because his pants was definitely tight after watching her fight, then that smile. He loved her fucking smile especially when she wasn't faking it.

He walked on until he got to the edge of the overpass. It had to be about 11pm by now. He looked down into his home and saw the balcony where he gave his inaugural speech. Hancock turned to Nicole and pointed at the state house. "That love is my home, this is GoodNeighbor. Home to the degenerates and outcasts of the wasteland. As long as you follow the law and don't take advantage of other people, you should fit in just fine. Climb on my back and lets give the people something to see Doll." Hancock knelt down so it would be easier for Nicole to climb onto his back.

Nicole reached out with her right hand and hoisted herself up on to Hancock's back. She tried to use her left arm, but found it wasn't moving right . The gunner must have punched her muscle in an odd spot or something. She struggled to lift her left arm up and finally was able to grasp the plates of steel on his shoulders. When Hancock stood up she was able to put her feet on his hips and she made sure she had a tight hold.

"Ready for this love"

Nicole's heart was racing as she nodded her head. Then realized he couldn't see her. "Ready as ill ever be." She felt Hancock jump and push off the edge of the over pass. Her flower flew out of her hair as the wind whipped her hair and face on the way down. She braced for impact as they landed on a wooden bench and broke it with a loud crash.

For a moment the only sound she heard was the beating of her heart in her ears. Then there was shouting and screaming as men ran at them with their guns held up. Nicole jumped down from Hancock's back and pulled out her gun to cover Hancock. She heard an odd sound like a machine powering up. Nicole looked in the direction and saw a black human shaped thing running at them, its face was bright red and getting brighter. Nicole was terrified and she aimed her gun.

"PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!" Hancock yelled throwing off his power armor helmet. Nicole dropped her gun and stood there. She watched as everyone basically did the same. The black human things red face flicked off and it stopped moving to words them, it turned and went back the way it came.

A woman walked up to Hancock and pointed a finger in his face "The fuck are you doing Hancock!? You leave without saying where your going, leave all your shit and disappear for a few fucking days? We were getting a search party together before you dropped the fuck back in." she then saw Nicole and narrowed her eyes at her.

"Aww, Fahrenheit its good to know you love me sooo much love." Hancock smiled trying to divert her attention from Nicole back to him. No luck.

"What the fuck Hancock, your engaged to Nora, you have got to be fucking kidding." She pushed Hancock aside and planted herself in front of Nicole. Nicole noticed her hair was dark like hers and was shaved on one side and long on the other. She also had smooth skin like Nicole. Nicole was beginning to wonder if there was some kind of hate between the two skin types by the way Hancock responded to her calling her self ugly.

Nicole had to look up at her. It made her neck and shoulder ached with pain as her adrenalin had finally wore off. She felt weary and tired. The top of the back pack had wiggled loose and it was at that unfortunate moment the cat in the bag decided this was a good time to come out. It poked its tiny head out and pulled its self up and on to Nicole's shoulder and meowed at Fahrenheit.

Nicole watched as the woman in front of her turned deep red. She looked like she could explode at any moment. The woman took a deep breath and shook her head then turned back to Hancock "Fuck You, I'm going to the third rail to cool down." She stormed off and left through a large metal door below a blue and red neon sign that read 'The Third Rail.'

Hancock turned to Nicole and smiled "That went better then it could have." He then looked at Nicole odd. He flipped the bandage on her neck to look at her wound and got a worried look on his face. "I think your neck is bleeding again Doll, lets get you to Dr. Amari."

When Hancock had turned to Nicole to see if she was ok after the encounter with Fahrenheit he noticed blood on the ground below her. He flipped up the fabric covering the wound on her neck and saw there was more blood. " I think your neck is bleeding again Doll, lets get you to Dr. Amri." He needed to go see her anyway. He had got another bullet lodged in his arm again and needed her to dig it out this time. He motioned for Nicole to follow him.

Hancock handed the power armor helmet to one of his guards then he got out of the power armor. "Make sure the armor makes it to my house." Hancock then took the kitten from Nicole and placed it in the calloused hands of the other guard who was a ghoul. "If anything happens to it, its your head. Set it up in the house somewhere safe, its one of a kind like us" Nicole watched the guard nod then walked away like he was holding a valuable object.

Hancock walked through the door under a big sign that read 'Memory lounge'. When Nicole walked into the room, she noticed it felt warm and inviting. It was covered in red curtains and there were pods of some kind all around. One pod had someone was sitting in it watching a screen with blank eyes. She followed Hancock to a beautiful woman wearing the most beautiful dress she ever saw sitting in a large red couch looking thing.

She nodded her head "Hancock, what a nice surprise to see you love, you stopping by to use one of the pods again, or are you bringing me a new customer….."she paused when she saw Nicole. Her face was familiar, but she couldn't place why she looked so familiar. She knew she had seen her before but couldn't remember a name for her. " Who is this lovely creature you've brought?" She hoped that maybe the name might ring a bell.

"Her name is Nicole, she's not from around here I'm just going to make sure she's steady on her feet before I let her loose. Is Dr. Amri down stairs we need her medical expertise." Hancock gave Irma a friendly hug as he talked.

Irma smiled and nodded at the star case. "You know she's down stars love, stop by anytime you want, and you," Irma nodded at Nicole "I'll l give you one free session just because your with Hancock, don't be afraid to stop by anytime dear." Irma's smile faded when Hancock and Nicole left. Irma had an idea of where she had seen this woman before, well, at least someone that looked a lot like her anyway.

Nicole followed Hancock down the steps and nearly bumped into him when he stopped. Her head was starting to feel light and dizzy. She looked down and saw her left side of her dress was soaked in blood. She looked up and saw a woman busy typing away at a terminal. She didn't look away from the terminal. "Hello Hancock, what do you need, I'm kind of busy writing code for the synths that need reprograming."

"Well, I got a bullet wound that needs cleaning out and Nicole, my friend here needs a stimpack for her neck, we had to stich it and I think some of the stiches must have came loose" Dr. Amri turned to Hancock then looked at Nicole. "Oh dear, go sit while it get my stuff, you look like your about to pass out." Hancock turned to Nicole and saw she was covered in blood on her left side. No way all that blood was seeping out of her neck. Hancock walked over to her and started to help her take off the backpack.

" Fucking hell Nicole, when the fuck did you get stabbed!" Hancock yelled as he gently maneuvered the strap of the back pack over the handle of a knife that was lodged in her left shoulder. He saw that all the blood was coming from the knife.

Amri rushed over and shook her head. "How long has this been here?"

Nicole shook her head trying to think back. Then froze. "There was a guy on the overpass that had punched me in the shoulder. That would explain why he looked so surprised before I shot him." Nicole used her right hand to feel where the blade was. It was lodged in the small space that was in the middle of her shoulder blade and spine. The Handle being the only thing sticking out.

Amari had gotten a jet inhaler and a few stimpacks. She handed the jet Inhaler to Nicole "Take a hit of this, as soon as it kicks in I'm going to pull the blade out and then I'm going to use stimpacks to stop the bleeding and heal your wounds."

Nicole stared at the inhaler and didn't understand how it worked. Hancock reached over and grabbed it from her. "Like this Doll" Hancock shook the inhaler and took a hit. Then he handed back to her before letting the smoke exhale .

Nicole shook the inhaler and put it up to her mouth and inhaled deeply like Hancock did as she pressed the red vial down onto the mouthpiece. She cringed at the taste of it. It was bitter and made her mouth burn and tingle slightly.

Then the world appeared to slowdown all of the sudden and everything seemed to move in slow motion. She lifted her hand and watched it move slowly as the jet took full effect. She heard Hancock laugh . She felt a tug on her shoulder but paid no mind to it as she was too focused on how slow the world was moving. Slowly time sped back up and everything went back to normal as she felt a sting in her neck and a hiss. The pain in her neck and shoulder started to disappear and dissipate. The effects of the jet were still lingering as it slowly wore off. Nicole could feel the skin on her neck reforming and tingling as her skin and muscles healed back together.

Hancock watched as Dr. Amri had given Nicole a jet inhaler. He knew by the way she was looking at it that she didn't know how to use it. He had grabbed it from her and showed her how to use it. When Nicole had took a hit of the inhaler she didn't even cough like new users do at first. She took a deep breath and inhaled storongly just like he had. Hancock watched as it hit her hard and she had lifted her hand to look at it moving it slowly.

Hancock couldn't help but laugh at her reaction to jet. That's when Dr. Amri had reached over quickly pulling the blade from her back. Hancock saw the blade was about three inches long. He cringed knowing that had been in Nicole's shoulder. He had saw how close it was to her spine. He shuddered thinking about how close he had gotten to loosing her after just finding her.

Nicole had to of been in great pain to have walked around like that, but then again she looked as surprised as he was when they found it. Hancock then wondered if Nicole could even feel pain. He watched as Dr. Amri placed the needle of the stimpack in her shoulder.

Dr. Amri took off the bandage from her neck. Dr. Amri looked at Hancock when she saw the bruising and the cut on Nicole neck. "Where did you rescue her from?" Hancock was always helping people and bringing them to Dr. Amari to fix.

When Dr. Amari first came to GoodNeighbor she was just learning her practice from journals and books. Hancock offered her a place to stay and practice. If she agreed to help those in need of it. Since then has earned her title of Dr. many times over saving countless lives of ghouls ,synths and humans.

She has just recently been able to add mutant her list of those she could help thanks to Strong and Dr. Virgil. Since the fall of the institute he became free to wonder the commonwealth and had found . Hancock had a suspicion that the two were together romantically since he saw them together more and more.

"I found her frozen in cryo in an old bunker. Nicole grew up down there with a sadistic ghoul." Hancock remembered the bag of caps he had promised the soul who killed Eddie.

Dr. Amari paused and looked at Nicole who was setting back in the chair and was still under the lingering effects of the Jet. She was staring at her hand watching how her fingers moved. "She was in cryo? Do you know how old she is?" Dr. Amri grabbed Hancock's arm and handed him the jet. "Nice work on her stitches by the way."

Hancock took another hit, but it didn't effect him anymore like how it was effecting Nicole. He needed ultra Jet to feel that kind of high again.

"Thanks, no I don't know how old she is. She was given a letter, a picture and a Holotape from the ghoul that kept her locked up, but the Holotape is encrypted and she destroyed the letter before I could see it." Hancock pulled out the photograph and handed it to Dr. Amri. Dr. Amri looked at the photograph and felt like she had seen the woman before but couldn't place where. She handed the picture back to Hancock "You know I could try and hack that Holotape if you want me to?"

Hancock shook his head. He only trusted two people to hack into something this important and that was his Fiancé and Nick Valentine. "Naw, I figured I'll just let Nora Hack into it when she gets baaaaaack, damn woman, be a little more gentle next time." The bullet that was lodged in Hancock's arm clinked into the glass dish that was next to him. He saw wisps of blood float around the bullet as his blood dissolved into the water. He felt the sting of a stimpack and herd a familiar hiss. The pain faded and his arm repaired its self, he flexed his hand as the tingling spread through the healing wound.

Hancock stood up and thanked Dr. Amri. He took Nicol's hand and helped her stand up. The effects of the jet still there but was wearing off. "Come on love lets get you settled." He grabbed his bag and opened it to get his hat out. He was happy to see the kitten didn't leave any messes in it. He cleared everything out of it and put it on. He smiled happy to have his old friend back where it belonged. He led Nicole up and out of Dr. Amari's room and back to the memory den.

Irma waved at them and smiled "Don't forget to come back and visit anytime Hancock, and dear, remember you have one free session when ever you want it." Hancock and Nicole left the memory den. As he walked Nicole to the state house, he could hear little snippets from people here and their as his return was the talk of the town. He smiled.

Hancock opened the door and motioned for Nicole to go first. When she stepped inside she noticed it was very dark. She took off her welders goggles and looked around. She saw a spiraling staircase that led both up and down almost every window she could see was boarded over. She saw guards standing at every doorway all of them ghouls. She followed Hancock as he took her up the stairway and into a room with several couches and all kinds of things laid out on tables. She saw a terminal on a desk and an armed guard was crouched down by it and was playing with something. When he moved she saw he was holding a string and was playing with the tiny kitten.

"Playing on the job now are we?" Hancock asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The man jumped scaring the kitten making it run under the desk. The man stood up and faced Hancock shaking his head "No sir I was just trying to do what you asked me to so... I was... well.. fuck Hancock it's a fucking kitten and what the fuck ells was I supposed to do with it?" The guard shifted then nodded at the desk "Where the fuck you I find such a unique one anyway?" the man picked up his gun from the desk and straightened his self up.

"Found it south of here by an old restaurant named Joe's spunkies. Now go do some work before I fire your ass." Hancock tossed his bag on to the couch and turned to Nicole.

The guard tipped his hat at Nicole as he walked by her "mam". Then left the room.

Hancock walked over to the computer and checked to make sure Fahrenheit had kept things running. Hancock knew that If anything were to ever happened to him, the town would automatically make her the next mayor since she knew how to run everything anyway. Hancock noticed a stack of papers that needed his attention and he slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh. Fucking work never ends. He turned to look at Nicole. He knew she needed a place to stay. He figured until he could make a room for her in the state house he might have to place her at the hotel.

Hancock turned and saw Nicole was holding the kitten. Just what little bit of food he had given it made it more lively and healthy looking. He noticed the guard had gotten a box of dirt and had placed it by the desk for the kitten to use as a bathroom place. Nora was going to love this kitten, he hoped Nora would be ok with Nicole also.

Hancock flopped down onto one of the couches and started to stretch out as Nicole and the kitten sat on the couch across from him. He watched as she took off her shoulder bag and opened it. Nicole pulled out the moonshine bottle and some dried squirrel on a stick. She placed the bottle on the coffee table and gave the kitten the food. Seeing the bottle gave him an idea. Hancock looked at a wall clock and saw it was only 1am. The night was still young.

He was weary and tired, but the thought of an impromptu party gave him some of his energy back. He sat up and looked at Nicole. "Feel like having a party Doll?"

Nicole looked up from the kitten and saw Hancock watching her with a smile on his face. "I guess, I don't know what a party is, but I'll have a party, so far everything I've done with you has been interesting, are these party things interesting?" She finished feeding the kitten and put it down, it climbed back up the couch and curled up in her lap and purred.

Hancock laughed. He was loving every minute with Nicole. It was fun watching her experience everything. The world so new to her, he felt alive watching her. He stood up and grabbed the moonshine bottle. He reached out and held his hand to her. Nicole placed the kitten on the cushion next to her and grabbed Hancock's hand. He dramatically pulled Nicole to her feet and had to catch her as she stumbled for word. He smiled "let's go have a party Doll."

Fahrenheit stared at the bottle of beer in her hand. The fuck was he thinking bringing another woman like that home. A day or so ago when she walked into the sitting room where Hancock liked to chill and saw he was gone She had a feeling he had gone for one of his random walks. She hated when he did that. She was his personal body guard and how was she to do her do her job when he was gone. When she noticed he had left all his shit on the coffee table by the couch she had relaxed a little knowing he didn't expect to be gone long. She had gone to bed expecting him to be home when she woke up.

When he was nowhere to be found the next day she panicked. She had rounded up some guards and a few others when they heard the crash. She saw someone had jumped from the overpass down into their town. She gave the order to attack. When he took off the helmet and demanded everyone to drop there guns she felt relieved and fucking pissed at the same time.

He was the one who raised her after rescuing her from the sex slavers. She smiled remembering what he had done to those cunts. Hancock had left them alive but unable to call themselves men anymore.

He treated her like family and she saw him as an older brother. She often scolded him like an older sister anymore. She had stormed up to him to give him a big piece of her mind for just leaving the way he did when she saw the whore he brought home. Some drop dead fucking gorgeous bitch with perfect tits, raven black hair, perfect skin and knock out golden eye's that were all sweet and innocent looking.

She was about to waylay her wrath into her for being a home wrecker when the fucking kitten climbed out of the bag. It was so small and was fucking hairless. It was the most cutest thing she had ever seen. When it meowed at her all her furry melted away and it pissed her off. She had turned to Hancock and told him she needed to cool down. Now here she was staring at her fourth bottle of beer.

"Everything ok love?" It was Charlie the bartender.

"As best as it could be considering it's Hancock." She took a long drink of her beer.

The bartender handed her another beer "Is he back yet?"

"Yeah, and he brought some bitch back with him too. You should see her Charlie, I don't think I've quite seen anyone as beautiful as her here in the commonwealth." She finished her beer and moved on to the fifth bottle. "She's probably a fucking whore, I wonder if she knows Hancock is engaged. She's probably his one last fling before he ties the knot with Nora." Fahrenheit popped the cap off tossing it in her pocket.

" This bitch, have braided hair and perfect tits ?" Charlie asked

Fahrenheit sat up "yeah you know anything about her?"

"Yeah, she just walked in here with Hancock." The robot nodded towards the door with his eye.

Fahrenheit turned to see the bitch was following Hancock like a lost puppy into the bar. She watched as he led her to his couch and motioned for her to sit. The bitch was sitting in Nora's usual spot. Hancock turned and looked around the room. When he saw her he smiled and walked towards her. Fahrenheit noticed he was carrying a clear bottle as he got closer.

"Fahrenheit, so glad to see you love." He approached her cautiously not knowing if she was still pissed or not.

Fahrenheit had long since let her anger bleed away, but she pretended to still be angry just to fuck with him. "Don't you act fucking innocent Hancock, I was scared you had got hurt or …worse." She couldn't stand the thought of loosing her only family.

"I'm here Now aren't I?" he opened his arms like he was going to hug her "Need a hug to feel better?"

Fahrenheit smiled "Fuck off Hancock, you know I hate that mushy brahmashit." She nodded at the bitch. "Who's the new tits?" She saw Hancock smile.

"Her name's Nicole. Found her sealed in a cryo pod in a bunker." He waved at Charlie.

Fahrenheit wondered where the fuck he found a bunker. She was about to ask him when she saw his face become serious.

"Have you heard anything from Nora?" he had a worried look on his face and Fahrenheit wondered if he was asking to know how long he had with ice bitch.

"yeah, she radioed in about thirty minutes before you got here. She was in Sanctuary hills with Nick finishing there case. Some shit about missing ghouls. When I told her you were missing she said she would be here by morning with Nick and Deacon to help look for you." Fahrenheit enjoyed the look on his face. It was of both surprise and worry.

"I don't know how to put this," Hancock took a deep breath.

Fahrenheit knew this had to be it. He was going to say something about falling for ice bitch.

"Arthur Maxson is alive and wants a lot of people dead for the shit Nora did to him. I had the pleasure of running into him. He had some of his brotherhood flunkies disguised as raiders try to kill me, nearly did too. That's how I found Nicole." Hancock let out a deep quick laugh "Nicole stabbed him in the leg after he nearly slit her throat." Hancock looked back at Nicole and saw she was sitting quietly.

Fahrenheit nearly fell off the bar stool. "Elder fucking Maxson is alive?" she looked at the woman sitting innocently on the couch. She stabbed him? She looked so innocent and shy like a child seeing the world for the first time. Ice bitch definitely got some points of respect for that. "How is he alive? I thought Nora blew him up with that damn airship of his." Fahrenheit pulled out a pink inhaler. It was her own personal ultra jet inhaler. It no longer contained it's original contents as Fahrenheit had learned long ago how to make her own chem's. This beauty was her own special blend. It was a mix of ultra jet, day-tripper, mentats and a few other things she kept secret. It's effects allowing her to stay calm, focused , and supercharged all at once. It allowed her to stay awake for days on end if she wanted. Best part being no fatigue or side effects. She didn't use it all the time. She only used it when she needed to wake up, or stay alert. Arthur Maxson being alive was definitely an excuse to use it now. As she took a hit Hancock answered her question.

"He survived somehow, is that your new mix?" Hancock watched Fahrenheit inhale from her pink inhaler. She makes some of the best fucking chem concoctions he ever used.

"Naw, it's my old standby mix. The one you don't like because it makes your heart beat too fast." She put the inhaler back in her pocket. "What are we going to do about Maxson? Should we radio Nora about him?" Fahrenheit lit a cigarette.

"Can't radio out to Nora, if they are monitoring the radio transmissions it might give away her location. I think that's what Maxson wanted. Besides I think after my last encounter with him he might go into hiding until he can reorganize his self and the rest of his brotherhood fuck buddies ." Hancock took Fahrenheit's cigarette and took a drag of it then handed It back to her "I'm going to go back over to Nicole and show her what a party is, you want to join?"

Fahrenheit shook her head. If this ended bad she didn't want Nora asking her why she didn't stop it. "Not tonight, I got something that needs taken care of." With that she slid off the bar stool and started to walk away from Hancock before turning back to him "Remember that your engaged, don't do anything you'll fucking regret later." Fahrenheit then walked away. She hoped Hancock would heed her words as she climbed the stairs. She was going to take her spot on top of the state house roof where she loved to sit and snipe things.

Hancock called Charlie over "Hello mayor Hancock, what would you like to drink tonight mate?"

"My usual, one scotch, one bourbon, and two beers to start it off with." Hancock carried the bottles over to Nicole. She eyed the bottles in Hancock's hands not sure what to expect.

Nicole sat on the couch and watched Hancock talk to the Fahrenheit woman. By the way the woman kept glaring at her, she got the feeling the woman did not like her. She watched as the woman walked away and up the stairs she heard her remind Hancock that he was engaged before she left.

Hancock brought over some bottles and sat on the couch next to Nicole. He popped the tops off the bottles and handed her the tops. "These are bottle caps, use them to buy things you need when you collect enough of them." He handed her a brown bottle. "To getting out of the bunker and living free." He tapped his bottle to her bottle then took a long drink. Nicole put the bottle to her lips and took a drink just like Hancock had. She about coughed when she tasted the liquid.

"It tastes terrible." She watched as Hancock laughed and took another drink.

"Doll, if it was about the taste poor Charlie over there would have been out of business long ago. It's all about drinking it fast enough to get drunk and to not taste it." Hancock took another drink.

Nicole finished her beer and started to feel fuzzy. She smiled at Hancock as the alcohol took effect. He picked up the moonshine and handed it to her next with out thinking. Nicole grabbed it and started to drink it like the beer. She had already drank about three shots worth of it before Hancock could stop her "No Doll, don't drink hard liquor like that. Fuck that's going to hit hard in a moment, I should have warned ya not to drink it like the beer." Nicole took the Bottle from her mouth and laughed as her breath felt like fire going through her mouth and nose. She felt happy and everything seamed more funny as the alcohol was making her light headed.

Hancock took the bottle from her "Guess I need to catch up. He took a long swig of the Moonshine and handed it back to Nicole.

A few hours later Hancock was helping Nicole out the Third rail doors. She was laughing loud and couldn't walk straight if her life depended on it. Hancock was impressed she lasted as long as she did for never drinking before. They had finished the moonshine bottle and the bottle of bourbon. He didn't want to push her system too much so he handed the bottle of scotch to some random person and helped Nicole out of the third rail.

Green lightning lit up the sky and he smiled. Hancock loved radiation storms. He felt Nicole clutch him suddenly. He looked down at her and saw she was terrified. The green lightning flashed again and She screamed as she clutched him harder.

"Doll it's just a rad storm. Bad for you smooth skins, let's get you in side before you turn into a ghoul like me." The lightning flashed again and he could feel her tremble. He then remembered her eye's. The bright flashing was probably hurting her.

Nicole had her eyes closed and was holding onto Hancock for dear life. It sounded like bombs were falling after each time the sky lit up. She was drunk and it made the experience even more frightening. The alcohol was making it hard for her to control her emotions.

Nicole suddenly felt her stomach tighten and cramp. She let go of Hancock and turned to the side just in time to throw up in the street.

The lightning, her fear of it and now the throwing up, she started to cry and shake from it all. It was like her emotional dam that was holding everything back broke as soon as she started vomiting. She felt Hancock pull the loose hairs from around her face and held it back as her body made her vomit again. He placed his hand on her back and gave her a soft pat " Let it all out love, you'll feel better once it's over."

Nicole heaved again "Am I dying?" she asked crying as she threw up.

Hancock laughed "No Doll, that just means you had a good time and now your paying your respects to the party god." Hancock helped her walk to the state house. She had finished praying to the party god and was stumbling slowly. She had her eyes closed to keep the bright light of the lightning from hurting her eye's. They finally made it to the state house. Hancock helped her in. He had some mattresses in the attic of the building for people who couldn't pay for a private room at the hotel. Hancock helped Nicole to the attic and sat her in a small area that was above his office and kind of roomed off to the right. He picked up one of the mattresses and set it down in a corner of the room.

When He got back to Nicole he saw she had passed out. He picked her up and was about to set her down when He heard her mumble. "please don't leave me alone." He gave a loud sigh. Hancock lowerd his self down on to the bed, Nicole still in his arms. He sat with his back propped against the wall and had her resting on his lap with her head laying on his chest. He was holding her like she was a child. He listened to her breath. He heard her breathing get slower as she fell deeper asleep. He gently kissed the top of her head "Maybe had we met sooner love it would be you I would be marrying. My beautiful porcelain Doll." He then let out a sad sigh and pulled his hat down to cover his face and closed his eye's.

Fahrenheit was perched on the roof of the state house. She had watched the rad storm blow in from the south. She popped a few rad-x pills. That's when she heard a scream. Fahrenheit looked down in the streets of GoodNeighbor and saw the ice bitch clinging to Hancock. The whore. She was clinging to him like she had never seen a rad storm before. No way she was that innocent. Fahrenheit wasn't sure if she believed Hancock about her being from a cryo pod. Too convenient of a story. Ice bitch then threw up all over the street. How the hell Hancock could fall for such a light weight baffled her. The ice bitch probably only had one beer. She climbed down when she saw them disappear into the state house.

When she got inside she tried to find the two. She finally found them sitting on mattress in the attic. Both passed out from being drunk. Fahrenheit shook her head and went back down stairs. She stretched out on a couch in what she and Hancock called the office. It was filed with chem's and it was where official business was conducted. She was only sitting for a moment when she felt something warm curl up on her lap and purr.

Fahrenheit looked at the kitten and laughed. She stoked it's furless skin and took a nap. She woke up to Hancock's boots. She saw the kitten had left her and Hancock was sitting on the couch across from her lighting a cigarette. "Sex that good with her?"

Hancock laughed. "I wouldn't know, haven't had sex with her yet." He let out a long sigh as he exhaled the smoke. "I fucking wanted to though, If it wasn't for Nora trust me that woman up there would be a wore out mess by now." He then looked at Fahrenheit "I got to get a few things taken care of before Nora gets back and get some food for Nicole, do you think you could help her with the hangover she's going to have?"

Fahrenheit smiled innocently "I'll help her, you go do what you need to do."

"Thanks love, guess I'm off." Hancock got up and left. Fahrenheit listened to Hancock leave. She got up and went to the attic where the woman was. She was still sleeping under Hancock's coat. Fahrenheit walked over and picked up his coat. The woman woke up with a groan. "Wake up ice bitch. I've got to have a girl talk with you." Fahrenheit purposely talked in a loud voice that would probably aggravate her hangover. Fahrenheit took out her pink inhaler and took a hit of it. She wanted to stay calm for this, but a he also wanted to make sure this woman knew her place.

Nicole woke up to the sudden cold. She thought she had been frozen again. Her head felt like it was beating with her heartbeat. The pain behind her eyes was excruciating. "Wake up ice bitch we need to have a girl talk" each word making her head throb.

Nicole sat up and looked at Fahrenheit. She saw she was holding Hancock's coat and a jet inhaler in her other hand. She shoved the inhaler into her pants pocket and knelt down to Nicol's level. "Hancock is going to marry Nora. You are going to stop flirting with him and your going to avoid him. That kitten down there in his office is cute. Would be bad If something happened to it. If I see you hanging off of Hancock like I saw you doing last night, I'll hang that fucking kitten." Fahrenheit would never do anything so fucking cruel or horrible, but ice bitch didn't know that. Fahrenheit then leaned in closer and stroked her hair. "Now be a good girl and let's keep this conversation between us girls. Ok sweet heart." She then grabbed the back of Nicol's head and kissed her on her forehead. Fahrenheit let go of Nicole and left.

Nicole didn't know what to do. She didn't understand what flirting was. How could she not do it if she didn't know what it was. Nicole panicked looking around the room. She felt her heart racing as she tried to calm her breathing. She was having what Eddie called a panic attack. She got up and had to steady her self as she was still a bit dizzy from the party. That was so much fun. She shook her head and stepped off the mattress. Her foot kicking something pink. Nicole picked it up and saw it was the jet inhaler Fahrenheit had used. She must have dropped it. Nicole remembered how the one Dr. Amri gave her made her feel and hoped jet could help with her panic attack.

Fahrenheit climbed back on top of her perch on the state house roof. She took out her sniper gun and looked around. It wad morning and she saw everyone was waking up. She watched as Hancock walked back with an arm load of food. She then saw a flash of red outside of GoodNeighbor. She looked through the scope and smiled when she saw it was Nora. She was walking next to Deacon. Nick and Danse was walking ahead of them. Nick and Danse walked through the gate but Nora and Deacon stayed behind. She watched as Nora grabbed Deacons shirt and pulled him into a deep passionate kiss. Then she reached down his pants. Fahrenheit looked away.

Fucking hell.

Fahrenheit reached for her jet inhaler but it was gone. Fuck, this was the second one she's lost now.

Hancock was walking to the state house when he saw Nick valentine and Danse walk through the gate. "Nick, good to see you man. Nora with you?" Hancock looked for her but didn't see her.

Nick looked a bit guilty and looked at Danse "She's not far behind, she and Deacon needed to talk about something," Nick nodded at the food in Hancock's arms. "You feeding an army or something ?"

"Naw, got a new friend that's probably hungry as hell." The three men met at the state house door at the same time.

"Why don't you guys join us for breakfast?" Hancock was being polite in asking them. He knew Nick couldn't eat, but wasn't sure about Danse since He was a newer gen synth.

Danse nodded at Hancock as he opened the door. He was still an ass hole but was working on being a better person . All three men walked into the building. Nick and Danse followed Hancock to his office. He set down his load of food on his desk and turned to them.

He started to say something, but before he could get a word out there was a loud thump on the floor above them. Hancock looked up and got a worried look on his face. He turned away from Nick and Danse. As they followed him upstairs.

There on the floor was a woman lying face down barely breathing. Hancock ran to her. "Nicole! Hay Doll you ok?" he then saw the pink inhaler in her hand, and he knew what had happened. He turned her over and picked her up. Hancock was gently slapped her face hoping it would wake her up. She started to shake.

"Fuck!" Hancock rushed her down the stairs almost knocking over Nick.

When Nick saw her face his eyes went wide and He got closer to Hancock placing his metal hand on her face.

"Jenny?"


	5. Memories

_Remember, this story is rated M for a reason. The story is going to get gory. This chapter took me longer then normal because I can't focus. Not to mention I couldn't stop the ideas flowing for my other story. I hope there is not to many inconsistencies. I know there are grammar and spelling issues. If graphic gore puts you off then just skip this story. It's about to get bloody. That's why I gave it a M rating._

(Nicole)

Nicole held the pink jet inhaler to her lips hoping to feel that slow calm like the first time at Amari's place. She inhaled deeply from the inhaler with a long breath just like how Hancock had shown her. Nicole knew immediately that something was horribly wrong when her lungs felt like fire and her mouth went completely numb. It didn't tingle and burn slightly like the Jet at Amari's had done.

Nicole could feel her heart pump faster and harder like it was trying to beat its self out of the confines of her ribs in her chest. Nicole turned and looked at the door way leading out of the room. She tried to take a few steps towards the shrinking door way and the room looked as if it became bigger and the staircase looked like it had moved miles away from her. Nicole tried to call out to Hancock but her chest begun to tighten against her heart . Nicole clutched her chest hoping it would help.

She tried to take a step towards the stairway, but couldn't. When she looked down at her feet. They looked like they were sunk into the floor. Nicole panicked and tried to pick her feet up and out of the liquid wood, but tripped falling face first into the floor. Everything starting to go black as she felt her head slam into the hardwood. She closed her eyes and prayed for it all to end. She didn't care how it ended at this point, just for it to end.

Nicole heard Hancock calling her name from afar. Nicole opened her eyes slightly as she heard Hancock call her name again. She blinked and saw she was back in Eddie's bunker and became scared. How did she get back here? She felt a hand slapping at her face and it was scarred. Nicole started to tremble in fear knowing who's hand that had to belong to. Then she heard that dreaded name, the one Eddie would always call her when he was drunk and beating her. "Jenny?"

Nicole remembered Hancock and the battle she had at the bridge with him. It empowered her. Nicole tried to look at Eddie but was having a hard time "Don't fucking ever call me Jenny Eddie, you know Damn well My name is Nicole!" Nicole had always wanted to tell Eddie that. Nicole let her Anger flow. She never stood up to Eddie before in fear of what he would do to her. She felt her self being held down. Nicole looked up to see Eddie's face looking at her. He was bald and had a worried look on his face. Nicole looked at him with hate and tried to hit him in the face "Let me go Eddie!" She struggled against him and tried to slap him in the face. She felt strong arms taking her away from Eddie. Nicole panicked. She tried to see who was touching her, but everything went dark as she felt her chest suddenly explode in pain. It felt like someone stabbed her in the chest. Why couldn't she block all this pain. Nicole was confused as she fell into darkness and Eddie's face faded away. He was shaking his head with tears in his eyes. Then nothing.

(Hancock)

Hancock's heart sank when he saw her on the floor barely breathing, He knelt down to her and turned her over. She was so light and small he easily picked her up and held her like a small child "Nicole, doll, open your eyes what's wrong love!" Hancock started to panicked when she said nothing and her eyes opened slightly. Her skin was somehow more pale then it normally was. She was cold and clammy. Hancock could feel her heart racing and beating hard against her chest when he had put his head to her chest to hear if she was breathing. He saw the pink ultra jet inhaler on the ground close to Nicole.

No fucking way.

Fahrenheit was always dropping her fucking inhaler. Hancock figured Nicole must have taken a hit off of it to help her hangover. Hancock knew what was in the inhaler. Even he only tried this mix once. He hated it because It made his heart race and the hallucinations he had were fucked up. As Hancock shoved the inhaler into his coat pocket, he worried that what was in it might stop Nicole's heart.

Hancock slapped at her face again "Nicole love wake up, come on." Hancock kept gently slapping her face to wake her out of it. Nicole started to tremble as her eyes opened suddenly with fear.

"Fuck! come on Doll" Hancock picked her up as he stood up and rushed her down the attic steps.

Hancock ran into Nick and Danse as they were making there way up. Hancock saw Nick freeze. Hancock saw the synths eyes widen in shock as he reached out to Nicole's face.

"Jenny?" He paused before touching her face.

Hancock watched as Nicole's face took on a look of fierce anger. "Don't ever fucking call me Jenny Eddie, you know damn well my name is Nicole!" this was the first time Hancock heard her cuss or even show emotion. He realized she had to be hallucinating her self back at the bunker with Eddie.

Hancock looked up at Nick and saw the synths eyes were no longer Amber.

They were fucking red.

Suddenly Nicole started fighting against Hancock . she was trying to get out of his arms. "Let me go Eddie!" She looked up at Hancock, the fear and anger in her face broke Hancock's heart to see it aimed at him. She punched Hancock in the face with her free hand and hit him hard enough to knock his hat off. She then continued to slap and attack him.

Danse quickly darted past Nick and took Nicole from Hancock. Nicole suddenly gasped as her body went rigged and she held her hand to her chest and went limp.

Hancock pushed Danse down the steps guiding him to the office. "Danse, put her on the couch now!" Hancock had seen other people die like this. He remembered watching Amari help someone who had over dosed and he hoped what he saw her do would work for Nicole.

As Danse laid her down on the couch. Hancock felt for a heart beat and felt none. He slammed his fist down onto her chest trying to restart her heart.

Nothing.

Hancock desperately looked around and found a stimpack on the coffee table. He grabbed it and plunged it into her chest right into her quiet heart.

The stimpack hissed as it administered it's medication.

Nicole gasped as her heart started beating again. She was breathing deeply, but was still unconscious. Hancock sat down with his back on the couch and rubbed his face as He breathed out realizing he had been holding his breath "Oh, fuuuuuuck" he moaned then he took a deep breath as her breathing became more regular and normal.

Hancock looked at Danse "Thanks man."

Danse placed his self next to Hancock's power armor and got out of his armor. He walked over to Hancock and looked down at him. "Saw you were having a hard time controlling your woman, had to step in before she beat you. She got you good too." Danse knelt down to Nicole and took her pulse. "Her pulse feels normal. She should wake up any moment." Danse walked away.

Hancock felt his eye was swelling as he realised Nicole was stronger then she looked. Hancock got up and sat on the couch as he placed her head on his lap.

"Nicole, Doll face. You can wake up." She didn't respond. She continued to breath like she was in a deep sleep.

Hancock saw Nicks feet step into his view. "Who is she Hancock? Why does she know about Jenny and Eddie?"

Hancock started to speak but paused for a moment. "You know Eddie Nick?"

Nick sat down on the couch across from Hancock. Danse walked restlessly around the room his adrenalin still high.

"Yeah I killed the bastard with Nora's help. We hunted down some Holotapes that contained a code to get into his safe bunker." Nick was holding a silver lighter in his metallic hand. He was fiddling with the lid opening and closing it. His robotic fingers making metallic sounds as they scraped across the sides of the lighter.

Hancock lit a cigarette and continued to keep his eyes on Nicole, she wasn't waking up yet. "I went on one of my mind clearing walks, I got jumped by brotherhood assholes who were parading around as fucking raiders." Hancock looked at Danse "No disrespect intended, ya feel me?"

Danse shook his head at Hancock "None taken" he finally sat at the desk chair and lightly taped his fingers on the desk to help with the lingering energy. Having lived his whole life a soldier he was always ready at a moments notice to get things done. Being idle was not something he was accustomed to.

Hancock took another drag off his cigarette. "They chased me down like I was a fucking feral, I had left everything here in the office, I didn't expect to be gone long on this walk. One of the assholes shot me in the arm, some of them tried to jump me, but I had my knife on me and I left a few of them with some new holes. Made it to Joe's Spuckies. That's where I found the hatch leading down to an old speakeasy down the ladder. I ran on and found the open door to the bunker. I was able to close and lock the door and get the lights on, and fuck Nick what the hell did that bastard do to you to make you empty so many damn bullets into him?"

Hancock was starting to worry about Nicol, she was still breathing like she was asleep and was not responding to him patting her face to wake her up.

"It's not so much what he did to me, but what he did to the Nick all my past memories and experiences are based from. Over two hundred years ago Eddie murdered Nick's fiancé in cold blood right in front of Joe's under that damn billboard. I had planted some hubflowers there years ago in memory of her." He shook his head. Trying to get rid of bad memories.

Hancock took a deep breath of his cigarette, "I found Nicole in a hidden part of the bunker, she was in a cryo pod frozen. The pod was failing power wise and I had to reanimate her or let her fucking die. Well you know me nick, I'm a big softie for a hot chick in trouble, well I guess in this case a cold chick, I chose to reanimate her. She nearly fell out of the pod and I had to catch her. She thought I was Eddie, an I had to tell her several times that the man was fucking dead. She had to go and see for her self. Hell, I thought she was going to cry over the bastard, she fucking stabbed him with his own damn knife. From what I could gather from her she grew up in that bunker, Eddie had raised her from a child in there. I guess at some point he had stopped thinking of her as his daughter and more of a punching bag for some reason. He had her frozen and then I found her. He left her a letter, an encrypted Holotape and a picture." Hancock reached into his coat pocket and got the picture and the tape out "Here she asked me to have someone hack this for her so she could find out more about her self, I figured you or Nora would be the best ones to figure this shit out." Hancock handed the tape and picture over to Nick.

Nick looked at the picture and his face looked puzzled and pissed at the same time. "That's jenny, this was from her prom in high school, Why the hell is Eddie in it?" Nick took the Holotape and placed it in his Holotape reader. His eyes grew distant as he played the Holotape through his processors.

Hancock watched as Nick's expression changed from mild pissed off puzzlement to royally pissed off and fucking angry.

Nick ripped the Holotape out like It was burning him, damaging his reader. He then threw the Holotape across the room shattering it into pieces when it hit the wall.

"SHIT! Nick, what the fuck!" Hancock yelled at Nick as he got up and gently placed a small pillow under Nicol's head.

Nick had got up and started pacing around the room. "Of all the fucking things that filth of humanity's done, FUCK!" Nick slammed his metallic hand into a wall. The wall disintegrated under his synth strength and his metallic hand shattered into pieces. Nick acted like he didn't even notice his hand was broken.

Hancock was unsure of what to do to help his friend. He very rarely if ever heard nick curse. Nothing scares Hancock, but the sight of Nick Valentine loosing his shit was frightening.

When Nick shattered his hand Danse stood up quickly to help if needed. Hancock held his hand up to Danse to stop him. He then walked over to Nick and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hay man, what ever it is I'm sure we can help you through it." Hancock looked at nicks hand. Nora and Amari are going to have a hard time fixing that.

Nick laughed. He turned to Hancock his eyes were slowly returning to there normal Amber but still had the red hint to them making his eyes orange. "I guess my life is about to get a little complicated seeing as how I've technically got a daughter now." Nick walked over to Nicole and knelt down to her. "According to that Holotape Eddie saved her after Jenny was gunned down. The sadistic asshole saved her just so he could torment Nick Valentine with her, his plans were changed when Nick died." Nick reached out and touched Nicol's face with his unbroken hand. He then saw the scar on her neck, it was still fresh.

Nick's view of the scar disappeared behind a cigar in front of his face. He looked up at a grinning Hancock "Congratulations Daddy, you have a girl."

Nick frowned at Hancock as his hand traced her scar. "How did this happen John?" Nick was checking her pulse.

Hancock put the cigar down, he knew the conversation was bound to head this way. He was trying to avoid It with Danse in the room. "That happened on our escape." Hancock looked at Danse who was now sitting again. 'Good, best place for him to be when I tell them.' Hancock thought.

"On with It." Nicks impatient voice prompting him to continue.

"We were still cornered in the bunker. That's when Nicole showed me Eddie's power armor and his gun stash." Hancock made a mental note to tell Kleo about the stash. "After getting the armor on we got our shit and left. I had her hide and I took care of the brotherhood asshats."

Danse had finally spoke up "How do you know they weren't raiders trying to pull themselves off as brotherhood, if they were brotherhood soldiers they would need someone to give them orders, they don't just go around hunting ghouls for sport." He sat back in the chair and crossed his arms as he glared at Hancock.

There was the cocky asshole Hancock knew and hated. " I was getting to that be for you fucking interrupted me. I finished taking out the bastards when I turned to let Nicole know it was ok for her to come out of hiding, and my eyes fell on a slightly crispy Arthur fucking Maxson holding Nicole with a knife at her throat." Hancock looked over at Danse. It took him a moment to absorb what Hancock said.

"If Arthur is truly still alive, he's going to make Nora pay for what she did to him and the Prydwyn. Are you sure it was Arthur Maxson?" Danse was calm but had some urgency in his voice.

Hancock had expected more of a reaction. That's when he noticed the clock on the wall behind Danse. Three fucking hours had gone by since he left to get food. Hancock looked down at Nicole with worry. Then back at Danse a little irritated.

"Yes I'm sure it was fucking Arthur Maxson, do you want a peak into my brain at the memory den to confirm it?" Hancock pointed in the direction of the memory den.

Danse shook his head and held his hands up. "No thank you, I don't want to know what goes on in that fucked up head of yours." Danse shook his head "What did he say to you?"

Hancock couldn't help it. Danse had a way of making him pissed off just by talking "Nothing fucking much, just that he's going to kill Nora and everyone she love's. He had more to say, but Nicole stabbed him in the leg. He then ran away like the fucking coward he is." Hancock enjoyed the look of mixed anger and resentment on Danse's face.

Nick spoke suddenly breaking the mood "I'm taking Nicole to Amari, something's wrong." Nick easily picked Nicole up from the couch.

Hancock handed Nick the pink inhaler "Give this to Amari, tell her this is what Nicole took."

Hancock then looked around the room for his hat and found It at the bottom of the steps.

Hancock picked it up and found the kitten was hiding under It. "Sorry little one, I need my hat." Hancock picked up the kitten and placed her down on the the pillow where Nicol's head was.

When Danse saw the kitten he got a disgusted look on his face "That thing is more hideous then you Hancock." Hancock flipped Danse off

Danse walked over to His power armor pulled the power core out so no one could steal his armor.

Hancock opened the door to let Nick out and there was Nora standing there with her hand hovering where the Door knob was, getting ready to open the door. She looked at the three men then at Nicole in Nick's arms.

Nora immediately looked at Hancock. "Who is this?" Nora put her hand on her hip "And why is Nick carrying her unconscious from the state house?"

Nick and Danse glanced at each other and continued to carry Nicole to the Memory Den as Hancock stayed back to talk to Nora.

"Its not what you think love, She needed help and I helped her is all." Hancock stepped forward to Nora to embrace her. She took a step back and shook her head "I don't believe that for a second Hancock, I know you,"

A voice behind Nora surprised her. "I can vouch for him Nora, Hancock didn't sleep with or touch Nicole." Hancock saw it was Fahrenheit. He had intended to yell at her and give her hell about keeping better track of her Chem inhaler, but he was silently thanking her now.

(Fahrenheit)

Fahrenheit just couldn't believe what she had seen. She thought that maybe she had just mistook some other red headed woman for Nora.

Fahrenheit looked through her scope and could clearly see the four-leaf clover tattoo on Nora's neck.

Nora at this point was getting fucked hard by Deacon.

Fahrenheit had to look away before she pulled the trigger on the cheating bitch.

Damn them all.

Fahrenheit had been hard on Hancock about Ice bitch, and he had restrained his self with her.

Fahrenheit looked down at the street and had watched as Hancock, Nick and Danse walked into the state house.

She knew they would probably give Hancock shit about Nicole so she decided to stay on top of the State house to do her job.

She Finally saw Nora walk through the gates of GoodNeighbor as Deacon stayed back and changed into one of his stupid costumes.

Fahrenheit watched as Nora walked to the door.

Fahrenheit heard the doors open to the state house.

There was a pause then she heard Nora ask about the Ice bitch. Fahrenheit had started climbing her way down at this point just incase things got ugly.

She saw Nick carry the Ice bitch out of the state house.

Fahrenheit paused for a moment.

What the fuck happened to her. She was just fine when she left her in the attic.

The attic.

That was the last place she used her inhaler. No way that woman would be stupid enough to take a hit off of some random inhaler.

Fahrenheit watched Nick carry Ice bitch to the memory den.

Fucking hell, if she did take a hit, it would have most likely given her a heart attack. Fahrenheit had built up a resistance to most chems and had to keep upping the dose to get the needed effects. What was in the pink inhaler was enough to kill anyone not used to it.

Fahrenheit had made it to the ground and had walked up behind Nora. She heard Nora accuse Hancock of sleeping with Ice bitch. Fahrenheit was pissed off now after what she had just witnessed Nora do out side the gates.

"I can vouch for Hancock Nora, He didn't sleep with Nicole." She saw Hancock's face relax some.

Nora turned to face Fahrenheit "Oh, really Fahrenheit? you stayed up with him the entire time he was with that woman? You really believe Hancock would just let a woman that beautiful sleep in his home with out even one lecherous move on her?" Nora was pointing at Hancock.

Fahrenheit got into Nora's face. "You seem to forget I like to stand in that tower up there and snipe things that could be a danger to GoodNeighbor and Hancock. You wont believe what I saw a few moments ago just outside the gate."

Fahrenheit watched as Nora went pale.

"I saw two mongrels fucking themselves stupid. I wanted to snipe the bitch but I thought better of it." All of Nora's color at that point faded.

Fahrenheit looked at Hancock and nodded at the third rail "I'm going to get a drink at the third rail Hancock, if you need me that's where I'll be." Fahrenheit glared at Nora then turned away to head for the third rail.

(Hancock)

Hancock watched as Nora's color came back after Fahrenheit's encounter. Fahrenheit could be really fucking scary when she wanted to be.

Nora turned to Hancock and embraced him. Hancock missed how she tasted on his lips. They held each other for a moment. Hancock wanted to check on Nicole, but knew now was probably not a good idea after what just happened.

Hancock knew Nicole was in good hands so he didn't worry to much as he focused on his fiancé. Nora pushed Hancock back inside the state house. Hancock picked her up and carried her to the office where he laid her on one of the couches. He slowly undressed his self as Nora slowly undressed her self. Both eagerly staring into each others eyes as the excitement of what they were about to do on the couch built with in them.

Hancock had a bed at one point, but they had broken it a few months ago before Nora had to leave for her duties as General.

Hancock was completely naked and he gave Nora his mischievous grin as he lowered his self down to her, kissing her softly on her neck and chest working his way down "I hope your fucking ready love, I've been waiting three moths for you to come back so we could finish where we left off" Hancock kissed her with each word slowly making his way down.

Hancock got on his knees and smiled at Nora as she smiled back at him. Hancock gently spread her legs and looked at her "Oh my love how I have missed you."

(Nick)

Nick was carrying Nicole to the Memory den. He didn't know why he felt a connection to this woman or even why he would even consider her to be 'his' daughter.

She belonged to the other Nick Valentine not him. Nick looked at her face and saw features of Nick in her. Her hair was black like his and she had his nose and chin. The rest of her resembled her mother, Jenny.

Nick waited as Danse opened the door to the Memory Den. As soon as Irma saw Nick with Nicole she stood up and rushed to them.

"Nick, dear God , is she ok? Do you need help?" Before Nick could even start to answer her Irma yelled out for Amari. Amari rushed up the stairs and saw Nick holding Nicole in his arms and his shattered hand.

Amari shook her head "I'm sorry Nick I know this has to be hard on you." Amari started taking Nicole's vitals. "I recognized her features from your memories of Jenny. I had a suspicion about her. I remembered there was a file about Nick Valentine on the Network scanner Holotape Nora made of the Institute data. It contained a sample of his DNA. When I ran her DNA against it they matched. She's Nicks daughter."

Amari frowned as she looked at Nicole. "What the hell happened to her she was fine when she left here last night."

Nick followed Amri down the steps to her clinic. She motioned for him to lay her on the couch. "I think she over dosed on a chem." Nick handed Amari the pink inhaler that Hancock had told him to give Amari.

Amari's eyes widened she took the inhaler and shook her head "If she took a hit of this I'm surprised she's even still alive."

Nick looked at Nicole "Her heart had stopped and Hancock had to restart her heart with a stimpack."

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He then started to reach for his lighter with his other hand and realized his hand was broken. "Guess I had an over reaction to the Holotape Eddie left her, got any spare synth parts?"

Nick tried to move what pieces were left of his hand and frowned as small sparks was the only movement he saw.

Amari nodded at a storage chest in the corner "I always keep spare parts on hand, what I don't have here I will probably have in storage."

Amri looked back at Nicole, "How long ago did Hancock restart her heart, she should have awoke by now unless…" Amari knelt down and opened one of Nicole's eyes and flashed a pen light into it. "She must have suffered some kind of mental trauma while on the chem, her mind is preventing her from waking up as a way of protecting her." Amari stood up and looked at Nick "In other words Nick, she's in a kind of coma."

Nicks eyes flashed red for a second then went back to there amber color. "Can she be woken up at all?"

Amari glanced at the memory longer then at Nick. She started to talk but Nick was already picking up Nicole.

He carried her to the memory longer and sat in the chair next to it.

Amari smiled at Nick "Are you sure you want to do this Nick, if something happens…"

Nick shook his head "I fully understand what could happen Amari, just do it,"

Amari nodded her head and proceeded to hook Nick up to the Memory lounger. She then lowered the top to the lounger and took a deep breath as she tuned to her terminal and pressed the link up key.

(Nicole)

Nicole was hiding in a cabinet from Eddie. She had ran and hid there when her chest started to hurt and the lights went out. She couldn't hear Eddie, but knew he had to be out there waiting for her to come out of hiding to punish her for yelling at him and hitting him. She was terrified of what he going to do to her.

She sat there quietly listening. She heard footsteps walking around outside of the cabinet. Nicole took a deep breath and held it so Eddie couldn't hear her breath.

Where was Hancock? He promised to keep her safe. Eddie had somehow came back to life and was now angry she had left the bunker. Nicole was terrified that she was being week letting her emotions show. She was always able to hide her emotions from Eddie before. Now that she had been out of the bunker and had experienced so much with Hancock it was like everything she felt was new.

Nicole listened as the footsteps stopped outside the cabinet door.

Nicole cringed.

She jumped when there was a knock on the door. "Nicole, are you in there?"

It wasn't Eddie's voice. This voice sounded like an old detective from an old detective movie. Nicole paused. How did she know what a detective or even what a movie was? These were things she never heard of yet she some how knew what they were.

"Its ok Nicole, our minds are linked. You are pulling knowledge from my mind and I'm pulling knowledge from yours. Eddie is dead, I killed him."

Nicole thought of Eddie and not only did she remember his dead and decaying body, but she could see him alive and pleading for his life.

She was holding a gun and she felt so much hatred towards Eddie. She watched as she felt like she pulled the trigger and watched as it went in between his eyes. She didn't stop pulling the trigger as she emptied her clip into his head repeatedly. Then unloaded and reloaded a fresh clip to unload that into Eddie also.

The memory of it satisfied her. She felt empowered from it. Nicole opened the cabinet door and crawled out to meet the owner of the voice she heard. She was having trouble getting up when she saw a hand in front of her. She looked up as she grabbed it. A man wearing a weathered fedora with ebony black hair like hers was pulling her up. His eyes were green and he had a big smile on his face. He wore an old weathered trench coat that matched his hat.

"Hello Nicole, my name is Nick Valentine." He let go of her as he lit a cigarette and smiled at her.

She felt connected to this man. She didn't know why. Nick held up the photo and Holotape Eddie had given her. "Hancock gave me these to me to figure them out for you." He then led her to Eddie's terminal and placed the Holotape in it.

"I kind of broke the original Holotape in the real-world so this is the only way I'm going to be able to show you what's on the Holotape sweet heart." He motioned for Nicole to come over to the desk. He Punched a few keys on the key board and they stood there as Eddie's voice came out of the terminal speaker.

"Hello Nicole. I am dead. You are listening to this because your cryo pod had finally failed. As you know by now I am not your father. I'm sorry I beat you an inch to your life when you tried to ask me about your parents. I was drunk and high on a new chem from top side called psycho. I have contacts on the outside that deliver food and other shit when I need it. In return I tell them how to be better criminals and I pass them the fucking bottle caps from all the beers I've been drinking these past two hundred years. I've kept you alive longer then you should have by keeping you in and out of that damn cryo pod. It was going to be my fail safe if the radiation drugs didn't work. I knew the bombs were coming I just didn't know when." Nicole listened as Eddie took a drag off his stogie.

"Now to start at the beginning, Jenny your mother was my fucking wife, we went to a private school together when we were kids. My family controlled the crime back then even. We were what was called the mafia back then. Your mothers family owned the Grey tortoise cigarette company. They had ran into a bit of a financial problem. So my family offered to help and I was betrothed to Jenny as a way of sealing the deal.

She and I had our marriages arranged before we were even sixteen. We were married when she was nineteen and I was twenty. I tried to make it work. I was hopelessly in love with her. Jenny just tolerated me.

When my old man died the family business fell onto me. I was twenty three at the time. My father had thoroughly taught me the ropes by then.

Your mother by this point had hated the fact that I was a crime boss. It was also at this time I had an undercover detective from the police named Nick Valentine work his way into my world. He became my best friend and body guard, at least that's what I thought.

He and your mother were seeing each other behind my back and I didn't know it until it was too late. By then the damage was done and the cops had enough stuff on me to put me away for years with all the info her and that detective got away with. It took me some time, but I was able to make an agreement with the police chief to keep my self out of prison. I rolled on some other top dogs and in return I got immunity.

Your mother was an accident. She had came to me to ask me for a favor. As a crime lord we were bound to a code. As my wife she was aloud to ask favors of me. She only asked for one and I was honor bound to keep that favor.

She had asked me to divorce her and to let her go from the crime life. She hated it. It also didn't help that by this point she was seven months pregnant with Nicks child. I had known she was sleeping around at this point and I didn't know who with but I knew she wasn't pregnant from sleeping with me.

I was still madly in love with her and wanted her to be happy. So I granted her favor and wished her a happy life. We had met at my old family restaurant Joe's Spuckies. We gave each other a civil good bye and she left. Right into a fucking rival gang that had rolled up and open fired on the restaurant. My men gunned down the other men. When I looked out side there was Jenny, dead under the cigarette billboard.

Nick Valentine blamed me for her death and made it his personal vendetta to have me taken down. That's when I went ahead as planned and rolled on my colleges. I was pardoned. But that asshole Nick wouldn't stop. He kept on trying to get me taken down. I blamed him for Jenny's death and he blamed me. She would have been safe at my home where she belonged if she had never met him.

What Nick didn't know is that my doctors were able to save her child. You Nicole are that child. I had originally planned on tormenting him with pictures of you as you grew up, but when the doctors brought you to me I fell in love.

You were the daughter Jenny and Nick took from me. By the time you came to me you were already a year old, the bunker was built and I was a ghoul. Rumors were spreading among us higher ups about nuclear bombs falling soon. I tried to find Nick Valentine, but my look outs said he had disappeared after going to the CIT a year ago. Rumors were going around that he died there. I took you to the bunker and a few months later the bombs fell."

Nicole heard him take a deep breath as he inhaled his cigar.

"I'm sorry for treating you so horribly, the older you got. My hatred of Nick grew as you grew. It also didn't help the ghoulification had some negative effects on my mind. The longer I lived the more of my mind I felt slipping away. It was when I nearly beat you to death that I decided to keep you permanently frozen to protect you from me. This is my last gift to you Nicole. Good bye" Nicole heard the Holotape click off.

Nicole was crying. When she looked over at Nick and saw he was crying too. Nicole hesitated for a moment then stepped closer to him "You said your name was Nick Valentine, are you the Nick that Eddie was talking about?"

Nick nodded his head "Yes and no. I am made of Nicks memories and experiences, the CIT had copied Nicks mind and implanted it into a synth. In a way your father is apart of me as much as I am him." Nick wrapped his arms around Nicole protectively. "I may not truly be your father, but I will protect and love you like you were my daughter, I think it's what your father would have done if he was still alive." Nick let go of Nicole and looked down at her. He had changed his image back to his synth self.

Nicole looked up at him. She smiled as she touched his face where the metal showed through. "Thank you, I think I'm ready to wake up." Nicole knew from reading Nick's mind that she was asleep in a memory longer.

Nicole closed her eyes and everything went dark. When she opened them she was lying on her back looking at a blank TV screen. She wondered how she knew what to call the TV then remembered Nick telling her she was pulling thoughts from him. She learned a lot from him and knew more about what things were and what they were called because of him.

The door to the memory lounger opened and she stood up ready to get the hell out of there. "Take it easy doll, your going to be disoriented" Nicole recognized Hancock's voice and turned to him. He had a black eye and a few scratches on his face. Nicole gasped "What happened to you?"

Hancock laughed and pointed at Nicole "You did it love, you sure have one hell of a love tap."

Nicole's eyes widened " Oh God, I'm sorry Hancock!" she stepped back from him and nearly feel back into the memory lounger.

Hancock caught her and pulled her into a friendly hug. "Doll face, I'm just happy your alive and awake."

Nicole looked around the room. "Where's Nick?"

Hancock nodded up the stairs "He woke up before you did. He went up stairs to get some fresh air."

Hancock and Nicole heard a door slam open and a woman was screaming. Hancock got I front of Nicole pulled out his gun and ran up the stairs.

He got to the top and saw Nora was covered in blood and screaming. Nick and Fahrenheit was trying to push and pull her inside. But she was fighting them "DANSE! HE'S STILL OUT THERE."

(Fahrenheit)

Fahrenheit had drank her fill of beer to calm her self. She paid Charlie his caps and went up stairs to see how things were.

She ran into Nora. "Well hello Nora. How was your return home with Hancock, two men in one day, how do you keep your stamina up?"

Fahrenheit lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in Nora's face.

"Look Fahr, what you saw outside the gate was a spur of the moment bad accident. I didn't intend for It to happen but it did."

Fahrenheit hated being called Fahr, and Nora knew it "Yeah, you just accidentally pulled Deacon to you and your hand accidentally slipped down his pants." Fahrenheit looked around for Hancock. "Where's John?"

Nora's eyes darkened. "He left to check on that bitch in the memory den. I guess she overdosed on some chem's and she wouldn't wake up."

Fahrenheit frowned at Nora. After seeing Nora with Deacon she respected the Ice bitch a little more since she didn't fuck Hancock. "I'm going to check on her too, the least you could fucking do is learn her name. At least Hancock controlled his self and didn't accidentally fuck her."

Fahrenheit walked past Nora and walked over to the memory Den. Nora followed behind her. Nick and Danse was standing in front of the memory Den talking.

"So Nick Valentine has a daughter how interesting." Danse then saw Fahrenheit walk up. He smiled at her and handed her a cigar. "Nick just found out he's a father." Fahrenheit laughed as she and Nora both took cigars and congratulated Nick. "Well Nick, who the fuck is she or am I going to have to guess."

Before Nick could answer Fahrenheit heard a loud gun shot. She turned with her gun pulled out ready to fire back.

Nora was covered in blood and pink chunks of brain matter.

Oh God no.

Fahrenheit looked over at Danse as his body fell to the ground.

A fucking hole in his head.

Fahrenheit looked up and saw a man standing where Danse had been gun still level where Danse's head was seconds ago. He looked at Nora "Ad victorum bitch" then turned the gun on his head and pulled the trigger. Splattering Nora with more blood and gore.

Nora started screaming as Nick and Fahrenheit pulled Nora into the Memory Den.


	6. Anger

_This might be the last chapter for awhile. I've got two stories going and it's getting hard to keep track of them both. This is the more popular story, so I want to do it right and not rush it. I've got the other story planned out and it's not going to be much longer before it reaches it's end. I just wanted everyone to know I have not dropped this story, I just don't want to ruin something that's good. As soon as my other story is done I'll be able to better focus on this one and make it better. Thanks so much for reading this. I never expected anything I wrote to even be worth reading. Thank You everyone for all the encouragement._

(Nick)

Nick was sitting in a chair with his back resting on the wall of the hotel Rexford hallway. He was sitting just outside Nicole's room letting her get some protected rest. The entrance to the hotel was being guarded by two of Hancock's guards.

Nick was smoking a cigarette as he let his processors run through the events leading up to this point.

He was standing with Danse in front of the memory den when it all started.

Danse was smiling while he was talking, "You know Nick, its probably a good thing she's grown up, can you imagine what it would have been like seeing you try to raise a child." Danse lit up the cigar Hancock had handed him.

Nick shook his head. After seeing in Nicole's mind and watching through her eyes how Eddie had raised her, he would have done anything to of raised her himself.

He could tell from her memories that Eddie was getting dangerously close to becoming a feral ghoul as Nick winced at all the memories she had of Eddie beating her and making her stay in that cryo pod. Based on her memories, Nick was guessing the amount of time she spent out of the cryo pod was about maybe 20 years. But he wasn't completely sure since he didn't really know what age Eddie started putting her in cryo to begin with.

Nick couldn't believe how much Nicole resembled her mother from Nick's memories of her. Just like her mother, Nicole was short with a small frame and had skin as light as his fake skin. She was an almost near perfect replica of her mother. Her hair, chin and nose were from the Nick Valentine his memories were pulled from.

Danse put his hand on Nicks shoulder, "Hey, it will be ok Nick."

Nick looked at Danse and shook his head. "Her mind is so fragile, I've been in other minds before, but after the way Eddie raised her," Nick 's eyes flashed red as his voice became angry, "And treated her." Nick took a drag off his cigar to calm down. "Her mind is like a glass vase ready to break at the wrong touch. She was hiding in her own damn mind because she thought Eddie was still alive, that's why she wouldn't wake up." Nick shook his head "I was too easy on Eddie, I should have killed him slower and more painfully, he was dead with the first bullet I shot him with, the rest was just to let out the built of anger and rage Nick Valentine had towards him." Nick dropped his cigarette to the ground and used his shoe to kill the glowing embers.

Danse shook his head. "Your just going to have to let it go Nick, or it's just going to eat away at your mind making you bitter, I don't think I could handle you being bitter Nick." Danse coughed when he took another drag of the cigar. "I want to thank you Nick for helping me come to terms with being a synth." Danse was looking at the cigar trying to think about what to do with it. It was his first cigar and he came to the conclusion it was going to be his last.

Nick smiled at Danse. "No problem, had to go through the same thing when I woke up. I thought I was the real Nick Valentine until I saw in a mirror who I really was." Nick pulled out another cigarette, it took him a little longer then it should have getting it lit. Nick was trying to get used to having to do things with his left hand since he broke his right one.

Nick awkwardly placed the silver lighter back in his pocket.

Danse smiled again. "So, Nick Valentine has a daughter, how interesting."

Danse then saw Fahrenheit walk up. He smiled at her and handed her the lit cigar. "Nick just found out he's a father." Fahrenheit laughed. Danse gave Nora the other cigar Hancock gave him and they all congratulated Nick.

Nick saw a flash of light behind Danse as Fahrenheit spoke to him. "Well Nick, who the fuck is she or am I going to have to guess?" Nick ignored her and tried to pull out his gun. The flash of light he saw was light reflecting off an old .44 revolver that was held to the back of Danse's head.

Nick felt his right hand malfunction on his gun handle and he could only watch in silent horror as the gun behind Danse's head went off and his friend died with an unknowing smile on his face.

Nick felt like he was watching things unfold in slow motion. Danse's lifeless body fell to the ground. The man that shot him turned the gun on his self and looked at Nora. "Ad Victorium Bitch." Then his lifeless body fell to the ground when the gun was shot one last time.

Nora's screaming snapped him out of it. Nick looked around for more possible shooters as he grabbed Nora by the back of her collar and started pulling her into the memory den with Fahrenheit pushing her. Nora fought them every step of the way. "Don't leave him, don't leave Danse there alone!"

They finally got her inside and forced her to sit on the red couch under the moose painting.

Nora was still hysterically fighting them. Nick jumped when Fahrenheit slapped her face and yelled at her. "He's dead Nora! Get it the fuck together!"

Nick turned to see Hancock rush up to them with his shot gun ready to blast the enemy. Hancock looked at Nora then rushed through the hall, Nick heard him kick open the door.

Irma rushed up to them and shook her head as she spoke to Nick "Is she ok?" Irma went over to Nora and started using a cloth to clean the blood off her Face. By now Nora had stopped making any noise and was just sitting there with tears in her eye's as she stared at nothing.

Nick shook his head and spoke softly "She's not hurt physically, but I can't say much for how she's feeling."

Irma nodded her head as she took Nora by her hand and led her off the couch. "Come love, let's get you in some clean clothes and clean you up in the bathroom." Irma led her through a door across from Kent's door.

Nick heard the door slam open as Hancock's boots stormed back in. When he turned the corner he looked at the couch for Nora.

His face was angry and dark. When he didn't see Nora on the couch he looked at Nick "Where's Nora?" Hancock reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a jet inhaler.

Nick nodded in the direction that Irma took her. "Irma's cleaning her up and changing her clothes." Nick took out another cigarette and placed it in his mouth. He then reached into his pocket to get his lighter, but it was gone.

Hancock flicked open a silver lighter and lit it "Loose something?" Nick took the lighter from Hancock, lit his cigarette then flipped it shut killing the flame.

"Must have dropped it trying to put it back in my pocket." Nick said quietly as he watched the cigarette burn.

Hancock looked at Nick then at Fahrenheit and asked in an anger filled tone of voice. "How the fuck does someone get shot like that and not a damn gun was fired back at the guy that did it? That guy only had one bullet in his head, I looked at his gun, it only fired two bullets." Hancock looked at Nick angrily.

Nick was feeling bad enough knowing Danse's death was in a way his fault. Nick saw the anger melt from Hancock's face when he looked at him to tell him he tried.

Hancock didn't give Nick a chance to answer as he took a deep breath of his jet inhaler and pointed at Nicks broken hand and spoke in a calmer tone. "let's get that fixed before someone ells dies." Hancock turned to Fahrenheit "Make sure the guards do there job right, then I need you to take your spot on top of the state house to keep an eye out for any more problems." Hancock tossed her a pack of cigarettes. Fahrenheit nodded her head and left Hancock and Nick.

Hancock looked around The room "Where's Nicole?"

Nick looked around and panicked for a moment until he heard her voice coming from Kent's room. He could hear her and him talking about the silver shroud.

He knew from her memories that Eddie was a big fan of the silver shroud and she might be one of the few people alive who might know more about the silver shroud then Kent. "She's with Kent, I think shell be ok with him while I get my hand fixed."

Hancock nodded agreeing with Nick as he followed him down to down to Amaris clinic. Nick was staring at his hand wondering what having a new hand was going to be like when Hancock spoke. "I found something out front by Danse's body." Nick stopped walking down the steps. He turned to Hancock and waited for him to catch up and show him what he found.

When Hancock got closer to Nick he reached into his pocket and handed Nick a piece of cloth with something wrapped in it.

Nick opened the cloth and about fell down the rest of the steps in his hurry to get what was in his hands to Amari. No way they could be this lucky.

As soon as Amari saw Nick she looked as him odd. "I said I might have a spare hand, but you didn't have to rush back so fast…" Amri looked at Nick. She knew from the expression on his face something was wrong.

Hancock appeared through the door behind Nick with a confused look on his face.

Nick handed what was in his hands to Amari. "Can you replant that into another synth body Amari?" Nick watched as Amari turned the memory component in her hands inspecting it. "I see no damage, whoever this belonged too is probably still functioning, but is probably stuck in a black limbo scared to death. I have a spare gen one synth body on hand here in my clinic that this can be implanted into until a better, more suitable gen three body can be found. If I may ask, what gen three synth did this belong to?" Amari asked as she placed the memory unit gently in a desk drawer to keep it safe.

Nicks eyes flickered between blue and red as he told her. "It belonged to Danse, he was shot point blank in the head a few moments ago."

Amari stopped what she was doing and turned to Nick and Hancock. "But he was just here, how did this happen?" she asked as she placed her hand on the memory lounger to keep from loosing her balance as the news of Danse's death sunk in.

Nick lowered his head. "It happened because I was foolish and broke my Damn hand. I saw the man pull the gun and I tried to fire at him but I forgot it was broken. He shot Danse point blank Amari, and I watched it happen." Nick fidgeted as he looked for a place to flick his ashes.

Amari walked over to Nick and gave him a friendly hug. "Nick, don't blame your self. You have his memory core so he might not be as dead as we think." Amari handed Nick a bowl that had once been used for noodles to put his ashes in.

Hancock looked at Nick then Amari. "Do you think that's a wise idea putting Danse in a gen one synth body? Think about it, the poor guy almost went crazy when he found out he was a synth in a real human body. Can't imagine what he's going to do when ya stick him in a real synth body."

Nick looked at Hancock. "Didn't get the kinda vibe that you liked Danse, why the sudden concern for someone you always call an asshole." Nick took a drag off his cigarette and flicked the ashes into the bowl.

Amari was busy going through trunks looking for a decent hand for Nick.

Hancock smiled. "Danse may have been a fucking asshole, But he was an asshole who had a good heart, who had been brainwashed into believing in the ideals of an ass backwards military cult that he had joined to survive." Hancock sat in a recliner as he watched Nick smile and shake his head as he sat in a chair next to the memory lounger.

When Amari showed him the hand she found. Nick held his hand up for Amari to do her work. Nick watched her remove the old broken hand, this was the first time he was angry enough to hit something as hard as he did. Nick made a mental note to never do that again.

Amari had undone all the wires and connectors that worked the old hand. He had lost the skin of that hand in a rather nasty fight with a young Deathclaw long ago.

The Deathclaw had caught him and Nick had put his hand on the beasts nose to stop it from taking a bite out of him. When It shook it's head to get his hand off its face, his hand slipped into it's mouth. The Deathclaw bit down and tried to rip his arm off, but the fake skin that was on his hand was tore off like a glove instead.

Nick had took his chance and he plunged his pointed metallic fingers into the Deathclaw's eye.

The Deathclaw immediately dropped him and ran from him crying in pain with the synthetic skin from his hand still caught on one of it's teeth.

Nick watched as Amari removed the destroyed old hand. He looked at his stump of an arm with all the wires sticking out. Hancock by now had become curious and had moved a small chair closer to watch. "Don't that hurt Nick?" Hancock asked as he picked up Nicks lit cigarette that was in the noodle bowl and took a drag off of it.

Nick shook his head. "Lost all feeling in that hand long ago when a Deathclaw tore the synthetic skin off." Nick heard Hancock whistle in amazement as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry I blamed you for Danse's death man, it was wrong of me, I was angry that something like this had happened in my town and not a single person out there was able to stop it." Hancock shook his head again as he reached for his Jet inhaler and took another drag off of it to stay calm.

Nick winced as Amri connected the new hand to his servers. The new hand had synthetic skin on it and having feeling in that hand again was something he was not accustomed to. Especially since the Deathclaw incident happened around the time he had first woke up in that trash pile.

Amari made sure the hand was all connected then spoke to Nick. "I need you to move your fingers one at a time so I can make sure everything works." Amri tapped the fingers she wanted Nick to move. "Good they all seem to be working right, one last thing to test."

Nick pulled his hand away from Amari and yelled out in pain as Amari poked a needle into Nicks palm. Amari smiled. "Pain receptors appear to be working, I was afraid those had shorted out from not being used for so long."

Nick glared at her with a smile on his face. "You could have warned me Amari!" Nick then looked down at his New hand. He then took out a New cigarette and used his hand to light it. It felt weird holding and feeling the cold metal lighter.

Amari pulled a gen one synth body into the room and placed it into the memory lounger.

Hancock held up his hand stopping her from going further. "What if Danse doesn't want to comeback? Is there any way we can talk to him and ask him what he want's before we just throw him into a new body?" Hancock asked aloud to both Nick and Amari.

Nick finished his cigarette, he didn't like the idea of what he was about to do, but if they were to talk to Danse this was the only option.

(Nicole)

Nicole watched Hancock as he rushed to the screaming Nora. She was unsure of what to do with herself. She didn't know Nora so it wouldn't feel right for her to go over there.

Nicole saw a man that looked like Hancock and Eddie poke his head out of a doorway as Hancock rushed into the hallway to the door that led outside the Memory Den.

Nicole walked over to talk to the man as he ducked back into the doorway leaving the door open.

Nicole followed him and stopped at the doorway to knock before entering. She heard a friendly voice. "Come in."

Nicole entered the room and saw a cutout of the silver shroud and a real silver shroud costume. Eddie had loved listening to the silver shroud. Nicole remembered the huge trunk of silver shroud Holotapes that Eddie had kept safely stored away. He told her once, that he had every silver shroud Holotape that that was ever made, he even told her he even had a few that were never aired to the public.

The man that she had seen poke his thorough the door was now sitting at a chair by a desk. He was pulling a Holotape out of a huge player of some kind and was putting a new one in. He pressed a few buttons and then turned to Nicole as she heard the familiar sounds of the silver shroud play quietly.

Nicole smiled as she listened for a moment. "The Silver shroud takes down the evil cephalopod of doom, I remember this one, it turned out the evil cephalopod was being controlled by an evil genius named Dr. Danny Shorago." The man smiled wide as he looked at Nicole.

"I see Kent Connelly has an avid listener, Nice to meet you, What may I call the pretty lady that stands in front of me?" He asked as he tipped his hat to her.

"My name is Nicole, I've never listened to you, but I have listened to all of the silver shroud Holotapes." Nicole sat in a wooden chair close to the man when he motioned for her to sit.

Kent laughed and shook his head. "You've listened to all the silver shroud Holotapes?" He asked in an amused tone of voice as he looked at her odd. "The silver shroud Holotapes were never released to the public, the ones I have were all the one's I recorded off the radio myself before the bombs fell. Every once in a while someone brings me a surviving Holotape recording they found in an old abandoned building some where that has a little something new on it, but the majority of the silver shroud tails have been lost to us." Kent pointed at a small box of about fifteen Holotapes.

Nicole looked at the man, she remembered from Eddies stories of the past and Nicks memories that there were bombs of some kind, but she still didn't quite understand what exactly they had to do with everything.

Nicole smiled as she told him about Eddie's collection. "Eddie had a trunk full of Holotapes that he had collected, he told me about how he paid a man money to sneak the originals from the studio and deliver them to him to keep in his own personal collection." Nicole watched as the mans eye's went wide.

"You can't be talking about the Eddie winters? He's been dead for over two hundred years now, but God, I knew someone had to of had the original tapes."

Nicole told Kent everything, from her being raised in Eddies bunker, how her and Eddie would sit hours on end listening to the Silver shroud Holotapes when she was little.

Then Nicole told him about how Hancock had found her and brought her here to GoodNeighbor.

She had left out all the horrible things Eddie had done to her and just told him Eddie was dead when Hancock woke her from cryo.

Kent shook his head when she finished telling him about her past. "Your life sounds like one long Silver shroud tail, I'm sorry life stuck you with Eddie winters, even back in my time he was a horrible man." Kent heard the Holotape finish its run and he pulled that one out and put another one in.

Kent then talked to what he called his listeners for a moment to get them excited about the next Silver shroud Holotape that he's played millions of times already. When Kent was done he started the Holotape and turned back to Nicole.

Nicole looked at Kent and asked, "Did you take radiation drugs like Eddie to become a ghoul?" Kent looked a little sad and offended that Nicol asked him such a personal question so casually, then he remembered what she had told him about her past and remembered how she was raised and realized she was just curious and wanted to know more about him like he had wanted to know with her.

Nicole saw the look on Kent's face and realized she had asked the wrong question. "I'm sorry if I said something to upset you, I'm not used to talking to other people." Nicole started to get up.

Kent smiled as he spoke. "No don't go, its me that should be apologizing, I'm not used to people asking about me about how I became a ghoul, but just to let you know for the future, Ghouls like me don't normally like talking about our past." Kent sat back and smiled as he remembered his life before becoming a ghoul. "Not to mention, it brings up old painful memories of people we lost and how our lives were before the bombs fell.

The bombs were how I became a ghoul, I was on my way home from working at the comic book store when the first bombs fell. I tried to run home but when the first blast wave hit, I was thrown back into a wall and was knocked out. While I was unconscious the radiation fell on me and turned me into a ghoul. When I woke up I was in horrible pain, my skin was covered in sores and everything was destroyed. Worst of all, my friends and family were all dead. I had somehow lived and found out there were other people like me, Daisy was one of them, Have you met her yet? She had worked at the library before the bombs cell ." Kent got a far away smile on his face as memories flooded his mind. "I had a crush on her when we went to school together and I remember being happy to find out she was still alive. We lived together for a long while, we even had a home in diamond city before the mayor kicked all of us ghouls out. When Hancock took over GoodNeighbor we came here and have been living in this town ever since." Kent smiled at Nicole as he turned to change out the tapes.

This time he put in the Mechanist and gave his usual speech to the listeners about it. Kent turned to Nicole when he got the tape playing. "This is my favorite one, the bad thing is I only have part of the story, I've tried to remember how it ends, but it's been so long since I heard the original airing I've forgot it."

Nicole smiled, "Eddie's collection is still locked away in his bunker, it's got the ending to the Mechanist and more, Eddie has every airing from the first airing of the silver shroud to the last one ever recorded, If you want the collection you can have it." Nicole watched as Kent's face lit up. It reminded her of how Hancock's face looked when he saw all the guns in Eddies gun closet.

"Were you able to bring any of the holotapes with you?" Kent asked excitedly.

Nicole shook her head, "No, Hancock and I barely escaped with our lives." Nicole felt like that had happened weeks ago and was shocked to realized that had only happened within the past twenty four hours.

Kent got out a piece of paper and handed it to Nicole. "Could you write down where it's at if that's ok? I can hire some one to get them for me, if it's ok with you?"

Kent got up and walked to the dresser and pulled out two bags of caps. He walked back over and sat in his chair. "I got some caps here, but I can always get you more if you need them, I can't give you all I have or I won't be able to pay to have the tapes brought back." Kent started counting out caps.

Nicole shook her head as she started to write where they were in the bunker. "You don't have to pay me for the tapes, they belonged to Eddie and Eddie's dead, so if you want them take them. I don't have any use for them, just the look on your face was enough to make me happy, I would rather see someone enjoy them then let them rot away in that bunker." Nicole tried the best she could to describe the way back to the bunker but was having a hard time. She Then wrote Joe's Spuckies on the paper and explained the bunker was under that hoping that was enough.

Nicole handed the paper back to Kent and saw his face frown slightly when he saw where they were located. "This is going to cost quite a bit more then what I got, good thing I've got people who are willing to donate some caps when I tell them this is going to be the mother load of Silver shroud tapes." Kent put the paper away and Handed Nicole a small bag of caps that he had counted out. "I know you said you didn't want them, but here's two hundred caps for now, as I get more caps in I'll probably be giving you more just as a thanks."

Nicole took the bag from Kent and tucked It into a pocket on her dress. "Thank you Kent, I guess I better put this with my other stuff at Hancock's state house to keep it safe, Thank you again. Kent." Nicole got up and turned from kent.

Kent got up and followed her out the door, "No, Nicky love, it's me that should be thanking you. The silver shroud will have new life thanks to you." He waved bye at her as Nicole walked out of his room.

Nicole looked around the Memory lounge for everyone and saw the room was empty. Nicole figured they had all probably left to the state house and headed to the hallway that lead out the door.

Nicole saw a boot print on the door as she opened it and wondered why someone would do that.

Nicole opened the door and saw one of the towns people was splashing the ground with a bucket of water. As soon as the water hit the ground it would turn red with what Nicole guessed was blood. Nicole remembered Nora had blood on her and wondered if she was ok.

Nicole walked a little faster to the state house while the person who poured the water was using a broom to push the blood red water to a drain on the side of the road. Nicole walked by them and they didn't notice her as they continued to do there job.

Nicole looked around and remembered the way to the state house was just ahead. Nicole walked by the third rail and saw a man was leaning against the wall resting in the shade. Nicole saw him watch her as she walked by. Nicole turned her head away from him and started to turn right to head for the door Hancock had took her through when he first took Nicole to the state house.

Nicole took a step and felt strong hard hand grab her left arm painfully and she was dragged down an empty alleyway.

Nicole struggled to free her self and felt a knife press it's self into her neck. Nicole was immediately pissed off as a voice spoke to her. " You're the cunt that stabbed Maxson in the leg am I right?" Nicole felt the hands grip her arm tighter as she felt the other hand feel her body for a hidden knife. She felt the hand grab her breast and squeeze it. "Nice tits, to bad they won't be so nice by the time I get done with you." The man squeezed her painfully hard.

Nicole felt something in her mind snap as the man continued to touch her making Nicole see red and start to shake with pure angry rage.

Nicole balled her fist on her free hand and brought it down hard in the crotch of whoever was touching her. Nicole felt the knife nick her on her collar bone as her attacker dropped it and groaned in pain. Nicole twisted out of his grasp and turned to face who attacked her.

It was the man that had watched her from the third rail. Nicole was by now channeling all the anger she had built up from living with Eddie and was directing it all towards the man that had touched her in such a private place on her body with out her permission.

Nicole remembered the way Eddie had taught her to fight when she was younger. Eddie had taught her how to fight hand to hand along with how to fire every gun he owned.

Before now, Nicole had been to afraid to use any of the skills Eddie had taught her.

Nicole pulled her hand back and planted her fist into the man's face. Nicole watched his head snap back as blood sprayed out of his mouth with a few of his front teeth while he fell backwards onto the ground.

He made weird groaning sounds as he tried roll over, but was too disoriented to figure out where he was. Nicole saw where the knife fell and picked it up. Her anger was still flowing strong as she held the blade ready and waited for him to stand up. Eddie taught her to never kill a man when he was down, Eddie had explained to her it was an unprofessional way to kill someone.

The man finally stood up, but was unsteady on his feet as he tried to look at Nicole. "You phucking kunt…." The man screamed out in sudden pain when Nicole threw the Knife and watched it go into his bicep. Nicole had been aiming for his chest, but the knife was different from the one Eddie had shown her to throw and her aim was off.

Nicole felt strong hands grab her from behind as she was about to go to the man and throw a few more punches at him.

Nicole immediately balled her fist in fresh anger and swung it around Hitting Hancock hard in his scarred face.

"Fuck, Doll, you have got to learn how to get that damn weapon of yours under control!" Hancock yelled as he grabbed his face while staggering back from Nicole.

Nicol's anger suddenly disappeared as she gasped wide eyed. "I'm sorry Hancock," Nicole saw blood start to pour out from under his hand.

Nicole took a few steps back and bumped into the man that had groped her. He grabbed Nicole and looked wildly at Hancock then at Nick and Fahrenheit.

The man had pulled out a gun and aimed it at Nicole's head. "Back oph or I phoot her." The man was wildly looking from person to person not paying attention to Nicole who had started to grasp the handle of the blade sticking out of his arm.

Hancock laughed as blood dripped from his mouth, "You'll phoot her? No, I don't think you'll, phoot her, go ahead Doll give him some pain." Hancock watched as Nicole twisted the knife as she yanked the knife from the mans thick bicep.

The man tried to shoot his gun in pain filled rage, but had forgotten to take the safety off the old gun.

Hancock quickly grabbed Nicole and gently pushed her to Nick as he planted his fist into the man's face and struck the back of his head knocking him out cold. By now several of Hancock's body guards had appeared and took the man roughly by his arms and they looked at Hancock to find out what to do with him.

Nicole cringed as she saw Hancock spit blood at the man. "Take him to the cell in the state house, him and I are going to have a nice little talk later, Nick why don't you take Nicole to the hotel for the night, I'll have a few of my guards posted at the door to give you both some extra protection, I don't want Nicole to hear how he sings once our conversation starts."

Hancock walked over to Nicole and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't worry about the face Doll, it makes me happy to know you got a mean punch on ya." Hancock let Nicole go.

Nicole looked up at Hancock with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Nicole still couldn't believe she had hit him, worse yet, hurt him. "I was so angry Hancock, I've never felt that angry before, I'm sorry." Nicole felt hot tears pour down her face for the first time in her life and she couldn't stop them. Nicole looked away from Hancock in shame.

Hancock smiled at her as he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, his mouth and teeth were still bloody. "Nothing a little drink at the third rail can't fix Doll, go with Nick, He'll get you into a room at the Roxbury, get some rest cause tomorrow we're all taking a trip out of here."

Hancock gave her a friendly hug and watched Nick put his trench coat over her shoulders as he walked to the hotel Roxbury with her.

(Hancock)

Hancock turned to Fahrenheit as his smile faded, and he placed his hand on his mouth. "Fuck, how does she have such a hard fucking hit for someone so damn small?" Hancock held his hand up to his face and was grateful he no longer had a nose or she probably would have broken it. Thankfully all he got was a busted lip and maybe a loose tooth. Hancock looked at Fahrenheit who was silently laughing at Hancock by this point. "Thank you Fahrenheit for being my eye in the sky, I owe you big."

Fahrenheit just shrugged her shoulders and laughed at him as she turned to walk away. "No payment needed John, just seeing you almost get your ass laid out by a small girl was good enough." Fahrenheit started to walk away from Hancock to the third rail to get a beer. Hancock stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

(Fahrenheit)

Fahrenheit had been sitting in her spot on top of the state house when she saw Ice bitch walk out of the memory lounge alone. Fahrenheit wondered why the fuck would Hancock let her walk out of there alone after what happened to Danse. Fahrenheit watched as Nicole walked by the third rail and around the corner towards Kill or be killed.

A man slowly walked up behind Nicole Fahrenheit pulled her gun out and was taking aim at him. Fahrenheit waited until he gave good reason for her to shoot him incase he was just doing something innocent.

Fahrenheit watched as the man pulled out a knife and attacked Ice bitch from behind. Fahrenheit pulled the trigger on her gun and heard the bullet get jammed as the man dragged her down the ally way behind kill or be killed.

"Fucking useless damn gun!" Fahrenheit yelled as she quickly climbed down the building to the balcony where Hancock gave his speeches to the town. Fahrenheit was about to jump off the balcony when she saw Hancock and Nick burst through the Memory Den door, both men looked up and down the street then saw Fahrenheit signaling them.

Fahrenheit yelled out as she jumped the rest of the way to the ground from the balcony. "Hancock, Nicole went this way." Fahrenheit stood up as Hancock ran to her. Fahrenheit took off running to the alleyway with Nick and Hancock following at her heals.

When she rounded the corner and got to the end of the alleyway and turned to look to her left, she was shocked at what she saw.

Nicole was standing with her back facing Fahrenheit and was holding a knife at the man that had grabbed her. He was trying to stand up with blood pouring from his face. Fahrenheit looked down and saw a few teeth were on the ground in a small pool of blood .

Fahrenheit watched as Nicole threw the knife at the man and blinked when the knife buried it's self expertly into his bicep muscle. Nicole started to step towards the man when Hancock ran past Fahrenheit and grabbed Nicole by her shoulder.

Nicole swung around and hit Hancock right in the fucking face. Fahrenheit was too shocked to move when she saw Hancock stumble back from the strike of the blow, Fahrenheit had seen Hancock get into many bar fights at the third rail and not once has she seen anyone hit him hard enough to make him stumble back the way Nicole did.

Maybe ice bitch was tougher then what she led everyone to believe.

Then the stupid ice bitch backed up into the man that grabbed her and Fahrenheit slapped the palm of her hand on her face as she reevaluated her previous thought about Nicole being tougher.

She nearly laughed when the man spoke. "I'll phoot her!" Apparently the teeth on the ground was a few of his front teeth that Nicole must have knocked out of his mouth when she punched him.

Fahrenheit watched Nicole, as soon as she felt the gun touch her head, her face flashed in anger. Then she slowly grabbed the handle of the knife sticking out of the mans arm. The man was too distracted talking to Hancock to notice what Nicole was doing.

Fahrenheit noticed the man was using an old world gun and had been too fucking stupid to turn the safety off.

He apparently didn't know how to use old guns with safety mechanisms. She smiled as Hancock told Nicole to give the man pain and almost felt proud of the ice bitch when she grabbed the knife handle and twisted it as she yanked it out of the man's bicep causing him extreme pain.

Sure enough the man tried to shoot the gun and he failed.

Hancock took a few steps forward and grabbed Nicole and gently shoved her to Nick as Hancock laid into the man and knock him out cold. Fahrenheit whistled quietly. and looked around as the town guards immediately ran into the alleyway from the sides of the building and picked up the now unconscious man.

When Fahrenheit heard Hancock tell Nick to take Nicole to the Hotel so he and the man could talk at the state house, Fahrenheit knew the man was in for a massive amount of pain. Fahrenheit wasn't about to listen to that mess and told Hancock she was headed to the third rail. That's when she felt Hancock grab her shoulder. "Fahrenheit wait, I need you to go to the memory Den and escort a friend to the state house when he wakes up. I think he might want to hear that man sing after what his buddy did to him earlier."

(Hancock)

When Hancock and Nicole had rushed up the stairs Hancock pulled out his shot gun and got ready to blast what ever problems were causing Nora to scream. When he looked at Nora and saw her catatonic and staring at the floor Hancock felt his skin try to have goosebumps. Hancock pointed his shot gun to the hallway ready to shoot anyone coming through. "The fuck is going on?" he looked at Nora and saw she was covered in blood and brain matter. Hancock growled not wanting to accept what his mind was putting together after hearing her scream out Danse's name, before anyone could talk Hancock rushed to the door and kicked it open with his massive boot. When the doors flew open he saw Danse's lifeless body and the backs of his guards who were all standing ready to kill anyone who got to close to the Memory Den.

Hancock walked over to Danse hoping he had just been shot in the leg or arm, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Danse's lifeless face.

Hancock lowered his shot gun as he took in a deep breath and let it out in one long, "Fuuck."

Hancock walked the few steps over to Danse body and knelt down to him. Hancock shook his head as he closed Danse's still open eyes, "Enjoy the final ride man."

Hancock was about to get up when saw a little red light blink next to Danse's head. Hancock cringed as he picked up an odd looking thing that was covered in blood and gore with wires sticking out of It. Hancock watched as the little red light flashed on and off like a heart beat.

Hancock wrapped it in a cloth and put it in his pocket. He walked over to his top guard named Steve. "I need this mess cleaned up before we can get Nora out of the memory Den, gather Danse's remains and get them ready to be transported, I'm sure Nora will want him buried in Sanctuary, just toss the other guy in the trash where he belongs."

Hancock saw the gun the man had used and saw it was an old .44 revolver. Hancock picked it up and opened the chamber and saw it was missing only two bullets.

Hancock could tell by the man's head wound he had inflicted the shot his self. Hancock didn't see any other wounds on the mans body and looked at his guards. "Why was he not shot before he Killed Danse?" Hancock looked at all his guards and each of them shook there heads. Steve looked at Hancock and shook his head. "Happened so fast, non of us even saw him pull out the gun, it was when the first shot was fired that we even knew something was wrong John." Steve took a deep breath and shook his head at the mess in front of him.

Hancock growled as he turned away from Steve. He was about to go into the Memory den when he saw Nicks silver lighter on the ground. Hancock picked it up and looked back at Danse. Hancock remembered where Nick was standing when he had handed Danse the two Cigars knowing he wouldn't smoke them. He had left them out here talking while he went back in to check on Nicole.

Hancock put the lighter in his pocket and went back inside. He saw Nick and Fahrenheit were still at the couch when he approached them. When he saw Nora was gone Nick explained that Irma had took her away to be cleaned up and changed out of her bloody clothes.

Hancock watched Nick as he tried to light his cigarette and couldn't find his silver lighter. When Hancock lit the lighter and held it out to him Hancock asked Nick the same question he had asked Steve.

Hancock watched as Nicks eyes first flickered red then blue, they were changing so fast between the two colors his eyes were almost purple. Hancock knew he had hit a raw nerve with the synth and Hancock didn't want to be the one to finally crash Nicks old robotic mind.

Hancock pulled out a jet inhaler as he handed Nick the lighter and watched him struggle to light his cigarette. Hancock realised Nick was right handed and had probably tried to shoot the man that shot Danse but couldn't because of his fucked up hand.

Hancock took a hit off his jet inhaler. "Hey Nick, lets get your hand fixed before someone ells gets killed."

Hancock followed Nick back down to Amaris clinic after they found Nicole talking with Kent.

Hancock and Nick walked in silence until Hancock had remembered the odd flashing thing he found with Danse. Hancock yelled to Nick to wait up as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the thing.

As soon as Nick took what was in Hancock's hand, he nearly fell down the rest of the steps leading to Amaris clinic.

Hancock had to run to keep up with the old synth. When he entered the room he heard Nick and Amri talking about bringing Danse back to life.

Hancock finally realised what he had found and felt bad for Danse. What Nick and Amari was talking about doing to him would probably break the poor guy.

Hancock realised he had no say in the matter with the way Nick and Amari spoke.

After Nick got his hand fixed Hancock came up with an idea.

Amari pulled a gen one synth body into the room and placed it into the memory lounger.

Hancock held up his hand stopping her from going further. "What if Danse doesn't want to comeback? Is there any way we can talk to him and ask him what he want's before we just throw him into a new body?" Hancock asked aloud to both Nick and Amari.

Nick shook his head and finished his cigarette as he looked at Amari.

Amari took a deep breath and looked back at Nick. "Your call."

Hancock watched Nick shrug his shoulders and sit in the chair next to the lounger. "Why not add another mind to the damn collection Amari."

Hancock didn't understand until he saw Amari take off Nicks hat and hand it to Hancock to hold. "Nick you know the risks of doing this right?"

Nick smiled as he nodded his head. "Of course Amari I know the risk."

Amari took a deep breath and used tools to remove the back panel of Nick's head. She spoke to Nick as she worked in his head. "I'm disconnecting your movement so he won't be able to move your body incase his memory core was damaged."

Hancock saw Nick's body go limp and hunch over slightly in the chair. Amari looked at Nick. "You should be able to still talk and see, but that's about it until I reconnect you."

Hancock heard Nick talk without moving his mouth. "Lets just get this over with Amari, I don't like the way this feels."

Amri nodded as she motioned Hancock. "I need you to get the memory core from the drawer and hand it to me." Hancock opened the drawer and picked up the Memory core. He notice the light was still blinking like a heart beat. He turned to give it to Amari and saw her pull one just like it out of Nicks head.

Hancock handed Amari the memory core and nodded at the other one she was holding. "Is that Nick?" Hancock asked as he saw it's light was blue and was blinking in a different beat.

Amari nodded as she took Danse's core and placed it in Nicks head. "There just give it a moment to load and…"

"Where am I?" Came Danse's voice from Nick's body.

Hancock took a few steps back not expecting to hear Danse's voice again.

"Why can't I move?" he asked with a little more panic in his voice.

Amari knelt down in front of Nick so he could see her. "You were shot Danse, from what I was told it was point blank to your head. Your head was damaged beyond any repair that I could do."

Danse didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm in another body am I right?"

Amari nodded her head. "For now your in Nick's body so we could talk to you an ask you if you want to comeback. I don't have a gen three body on hand, but your memory core won't last long without a body keeping it powered. I have a gen one body that can keep you functioning."

Danse was silent. Hancock stepped closer. "Nora's been hit hard with your death Danse, she wouldn't stop screaming for you until Fahrenheit slapped her."

Hancock and Amari waited for an answer. Amari starred to get up thinking something was wrong when Danse finally yelled out.

"Fuck you Hancock, you always have a fucking way of making things harder. I Fucking hate you. Amari, put me in the gen one body damn it."

Hancock smiled ad he felt a little better. "I love you too Dansey."

Hancock waited for Amari to finish putting Nick back together and saw her breath a sigh of relief when Nick moved his hand to pull out a cigarette from his coat and light it with his silver lighter.

Amari asked him to do a series of things to make sure he was functioning normal. "Last thing, How do you feel Nick?"

Nick smiled as his mouth moved but no sound came out. Amari shook her head. "Danse must have shorted out your voice replicator when he yelled at Hancock."

Nick glared at Hancock and flipped him off.

Hancock laughed. "Yeah I know, Danse told me the same thing a moment ago Nick." Hancock looked at Amari. "Can you fix him Amari?"

Amari was already removing a part from Nick's neck when she answered. "Of course, you know I can Hancock."

Amari took the part from Nick and placed Nick's neck back together. "It's going to take some time loading Danse into the gen one since its an older version. You boys should get some fresh air and comeback in a few, by then Danse should be ready to wake up and I'll have this fixed." Amari turned away from Nick and Hancock and started working.

Hancock led Nick up the stairs and looked around the Memory Den. He heard Nora softy crying in a couch next to Irma.

Hancock walked over to her and gently got her to stand up ad he embraced her. "I cant believe he's gone Hancock, I saved him from dying when Maxson ordered me to kill him and to have this happen to him.. oh God Hancock it was .."

Hancock held her and whispered in her ear. "It's ok love, Danse will survive."

Nora pulled away from Hancock and looked him in the face. "He's dead, I saw him get shot in the fucking head Hancock!"

Hancock let her go and pointed at the stairway leading to Amari's clinic. "He's a synth love, or did you forget? I found his memory core and Amari's working on getting him back as we speak." Hancock looked at Nick , "Sorry man, I forgot."

Nora hugged Hancock. "I'm going to Amir's to see if she need's help, thank you Hancock." Nora kissed Hancock passionately and ran to Amari's clinic.

Hancock looked at Nick and saw him glaring at him. Hancock shrugged his shoulders as he thanked Irma for helping Nora. He then walked over to Kent's room and knocked on the door.

Kent answered with a smile on his face. " Mayor Hancock, what brings you to my door?"

Hancock looked at Kent then looked into his room. "Where is Nicole Kent?" Hancock asked in a low dangerous voice.

Kent backed up from Hancock and his face changed to a worried look. "She left a few moments ago right before Irma and Nora came back."

Hancock glared at Kent. "Where did she go?"

Kent took a deep breath. "She went to the state house to put away some caps I gave her."

Hancock and Nick ran to the door leading out of the Memory Den and opened it. Hancock looked up and down the street hoping to find Nicole.

Hancock saw Fahrenheit jump down from the balcony and motioning for him to fallow her. She had an urgent look and yelled to told him Nicole was in trouble. Hancock ran behind her hoping Nicole was ok.

When he followed Fahrenheit down the alleyway and Hancock saw Nicole throw the Knife at the man, he knew she was in a bad state of mind.

With out thinking he ran to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He felt her tense up and turn to face him so fast he never saw her fist hit him as his world flashed white for a moment.

He put his hand to his mouth to make sure his teeth were still there and could taste his blood in his mouth.

When he looked at Nicole and saw the look on her face he knew she didn't mean to hurt him.

Hancock took control and knocked the man out as Fahrenheit called in the guards. Hancock didn't want Nicole to see or hear what he had in mind for the man when he saw the brotherhood tattoo on his arm. Hancock sent her away with Nick hoping that was a good idea without him being able to talk. He then asked Fahrenheit to bring Danse to the state house when he woke up so he could hear what the man had to say also.

Hancock left the alleyway and headed Daisy's.

Hancock walked to the state house and paused at the door to make sure he had everything he needed. After stoping at Daisy's to stock up on medical supplies and a few other needed things he needed for his talk with the man that attacked Nicole.

Hancock took a deep breath as he opened the door and walked inside. He walked down the steps that lead down to the cell where the man was being held.

Hancock knew that by now the guards would have already went through every pocket and hiding place some one could conceal a weapon and would have striped him of everything. Hancock knew his guards were very through and that the man would be undressed down to his underwear.

When Hancock reached the cell doors he saw two of his best guards were standing with there backs to the man. Both of there faces were told Hancock they were pissed off royally.

The man was standing at the door with a smile on his face. "You sure trained these men well Mayor. I've been telling them all kinds of reasons why they shouldn't exist, ghouls are fucking evil and need to be wiped out. I am impressed that they haven't killed me yet or even tried to hit me."

Hancock smiled as he crossed his arms and laid his bag of goodies down. "That so, you want to know why they took so much crap from you?" Hancock asked as he watched his guards faces light up with grins at what Hancock was about to say.

The man laughed and mocked Hancock in a high tone of voice. "Is it because you'll suck there cocks for being such good little ghouls?"

Hancock laughed out loud. "No man, I'm not a coinsure of cock like you, I prefer pussy. Your going to wish you spoke to them a little nicer here in a moment, because they're the ones I'm sending in there to get your ass so we can tie you up to that chair over there an have a nice talk about a few things."

Hancock nodded his head at the guards as the mans face went from amusement to fear. The guards smiled at him as one of them opened the door.

Hancock turned away and lit a cigarette as the guards let the man know he had fucked up. "Don't kill him boy's, I'm gonna need him alive so I can get a few things from him." Hancock said as he watched the cigarette smoke float out of his mouth.

Hancock listened for a few minutes as the guards beat the man and dragged him out of the cell. When Hancock turned around he saw blood dripping from the man's mouth. The guards threw him into the chair and tied him tightly to it.

The man was barely breathing as one of the guards had kicked him in his chest and broke a rib into the man's lung puncturing it.

Hancock looked at his guards with a disappointed look. "I thought I told you guy's I wanted to talk to him," Hancock snapped his fingers and smiled, "Oh yeah, that's why I brought all these." Hancock reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of Stimpacks.

Hancock plunged one into the mans chest and administered the stimpack next to his broken ribs.

Then man looked at Hancock with anger and fear in his eyes. Hancock smiled as he heard the doors open above him. "I cant have you dyeing on me, I've brought enough stimpacks to beat you to an inch of death and bring you back all night long." Hancock could hear metallic steps walk across the floor above him. "Sounds like I've got a friend coming who is going to enjoy talking to you after what your buddie had done to him earlier."

The man looked at Hancock with an odd expression. When he saw a synth come through the door and approach him he was confused at first.

The synth punched him hard across the face and making him spit out a mouth full of blood.

Hancock placed his hand on the synth's shoulder "Hold it Danse, don't kill him yet, we need to know more about where Arthur is located."

The synth looked at Hancock with red eyes, "Don't fucking touch me Hancock, you know I don't like your kind touching me." Danse shook Hancock's hand off his shoulder and turned back to the man in front of him. "He's going to tell us everything, won't you knight Rhollers."

The mans face turned white with terror and looked back at Hancock, "I'll tell you everything, anything, just don't let this thing fucking touch me."

(Fahrenheit)

Fahrenheit had escorted Danse to the state house and was standing out side the door wondering if she wanted to go inside or not. She suddenly heard the man that was locked all the way down in the cell scream out in pain filled terror. Fahrenheit took a deep breath and turned away from the state house and climbed up to the top to take her spot to snipe a few monsters out side the protection of GoodNeighbor. She cringed as she could still heard the faint tones of the man singing his swan song to Danse and Hancock.


	7. Beauty fades

_I couldn't stay away. I had to add another chapter._

(Hancock)

Danse was looking at the broken man tied to the chair. He had a pool of blood under him and he was breathing heavy. He smiled at Danse and Hancock as he spit blood at Danse and flipped him the bird with what was left of his stub of a middle finger. The man had died about five times and was close to his sixth.

Hancock was sitting in a chair to the side with a few stimpacks and other chems and medical supplies to keep the man alive. Hancock was enjoying the break of pace and had let Danse do all the work since he was eager to get back at the people who took his physical identity away from him.

The man smiled, he was missing a few more teeth as blood trickled out of his mouth and dripped on to his freshly scarred chest. "You win assholes, I'll tell you something." He grinned at Hancock as he continued to speak. "That vault slut whore of yours, we watched her fuck some man in the alleyway just outside this filthy fucking town of yours." The man let out a breathy laugh, "We got a nice show while she was fucked hard." Danse glanced at Hancock then quickly punched the man in the face to shut him up, but he was too late.

Hancock stood up and walked over to the man. Danse stood between him and the man and placed a hand on his chest to hold him back. "He's just saying things to get you to finish him Hancock, we still don't know where Maxson is hiding."

Hancock gave Danse a weird look and squinted at Dance's expressionless synth face. His synth body was stripped of all its outer skin and he was just a walking synth skeleton with all his parts on display for the world to see. "Your being nice me? Why would you be block me and be nice to me?" Hancock knew something was wrong the moment Danse spoke to him in a tone of voice that was full of empathy. Danse never showed empathy or was nice to Hancock before. Hancock realized with cold dread in his heart the man was telling the truth, Nora was cheating on him.

The man laughed. "Because he fucking knows you dumb fucking ghoul. I watched him and that synth abomination that calls it's self a detective leave them behind as they fucked like dogs."

Hancock's eyes went wide when he heard the man talk about Nora fucking like a dog. He remembered Fahrenheit telling Nora she saw two dogs fucking and had thought about shooting the bitch. Fahrenheit saw them too. Why didn't she tell him. Hancock became more furious as the realization that Fahrenheit had seen Nora with whoever the fuck it was she was fucking and didn't tell him.

Hancock stared at Danse with anger boiling behind his eyes. "You knew Danse. You knew Nora was fucking around behind my back. Did you and every one who knew have a good laugh as I fucked her after another man did?" Hancock pulled out his knife and started twirling it around in his hands.

The man started laughing again. "They all probably knew and thought it was funny as hell watching her fuck arou…"

Hancock flung the knife at the man, his head snapped back and was pinned to the back of the chair, the handle of Hancock's knife was the only thing sticking out of his eye socket. The man let out a few incoherent words and moaned as blood and saliva trickled out of his mouth as his body started to twitch.

Hancock growled in anger as he walked over to the man placed his hand on the dead man's forehead and yanked his knife back out leaving a trail of blood across the freshly killed corps.

(Danse)

Danse took a step towards Hancock and started to put his hand on Hancock's shoulder. "Hancock…"

With out turning or looking at Danse, Hancock whispered in a low hiss. "Get the fuck out."

"Hancock she…."

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT!" Hancock turned to face Danse and pushed him back as he stormed up the steps. Hancock passed a guard and grabbed him by his coat. "After he leaves don't fucking let anyone in this building until I FUCKING SAY SO!" Hancock shoved the guard back as he stormed up to his office and slammed the doors shut behind him.

The guard looked at Danse and shook his head. "I've seen him do this before. Took three days for him to come out of that room. He was half dead from nearly overdosing on chems and hungover like you wouldn't believe."

Danse looked at the guard with his synthetic and emotionless face. "What happened that time?"

The guard gave Danse a sad face. "He lost someone he loved."

The guard followed Danse out the front door of the state house. Danse looked up and saw the neon Kill or be Killed sign, Danse would have grinned at the irony of the sign if he could.

He had woke up in the memory den staring down at the floor looking at Nicks feet instead of his own feet. Last thing he remembered was laughing about Nick having a daughter then nothing.

Danse would have shuddered at the memory of the black nothing if his new body could.

He had been aware that something had happened. It was like a light switch had just turned off and his whole world only existed as black senseless nothing.

Danse remembered the gut wrenching feeling he had at the memory of opening Nick's eyes. He felt nothing and had no control of his body movements. When he saw Amari's face look up at him he knew something was wrong.

He wanted to just fade away when Amari told him he died of a gun shot wound to the head. If he died then why was he staring at her face and not able to move. Was he in hell? Danse figured that was impossible since heaven and hell was reserved for those who have souls. He was a synth and synths like machines, don't have souls. He was going to tell her to just let him fade and die when fucking Hancock had to tell him about how Nora reacted to his death.

Danse loved Nora as a friend and didn't want her hurting over his death. He agreed to being placed in an old synth body.

When he woke up again he felt disoriented and confused. He still had no sense of feeling, but his eyes were open and when he looked down and saw he was a true synth now.

Danse remembered the cold distinct feeling he had as he looked at his metallic hands wondering why he had agreed to this and was about to tell Amari to pull the plug when he was suddenly embraced by a crying Nora.

Danse tried to comfort her, but he ended up getting his metallic hands tangled in her hair. Nora laughed as Amari cut her hair and told him it was ok, she would shave her head bald for him to stay alive if she had to.

Danse was on his way to the hotel when he saw Amari walk out the Memory Den door. She saw Danse and motioned for him.

Amari looked at the blood that covered Danse. "So, I see you and Hancock took care of that man that hurt Nicole, as a doctor I can't say I agree with the methods you boys used to got rid of him, but as a friend I can agree with what you did and why. How are you feeling?"

Danse went to run his hand through his hair and he just heard his metallic hand scrape across the metal piece that covered his head.

"I feel nothing Amari. I don't like this. Its unnatural and I feel inhuman. How long before you can get me out of this nightmare?"

Amari shook her head. "I'm sorry dear, I put a few calls out to some of my handlers."

"Handlers?"

Amari took a deep breath. "They are people who have become guardians to help malfunctioned synths live normal lives. No one has had time to answer back yet, but when they do I'll get you switched as soon as I can."

Danse took a deep unneeded breath out of habit and looked at the ground.

Amari placed a hand on his shoulder and Danse just stared at it wishing he could feel her touch.

"Are you headed to the Rexford Danse?" Amari asked as she pulled her hand back.

Danse nodded his head. "Yeah, I got to warn Nora that Hancock knows about something she did."

Amari shook her head knowing all to well what she suspected of Nora ever since she left three month's ago. "I was on my way to let Nick know I finished fixing his voice and was ready to reinstall it."

Danse nodded his head. "I'll tell him."

Danse walked to the hotel where Nick, Nora and that Nicole girl was staying at. When he opened the door some of the drifters sitting in the lounge looked at him. When they saw he was a synth they wrinkled there noses at him like he was the most disgusting thing they ever saw.

He herd some one yell the word abomination at him as another commented on how filth like him should never exist.

Danse ignored them and continued to the steps leading up to the rooms. The woman at the counter yelled out to him. "Hey, junk pile. No fucking synths allowed." Danse turned to her and looked her in the eyes.

"You never had a problem with me staying here before? Why does the body change anything?"

The lady's eyes went wide. "Danse?"

Danse nodded his head. "That would be my name."

The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry love. Word has it you were murdered in the street." She got closer to Danse and looked at his blood splattered parts.

"My body was murdered, but my memory component survived. Amari placed me in this nightmare fueled body to keep me alive so to say"

The women looked Danse up and down and turned to the crowd of settlers eying Danse like they were ready to destroy him. "No body better touch this synth. He is a friend of this establishment and town. Spread the word to everyone that if you hurt this synth you'll have Hancock and me to answer to."

Everyone complained as they dispersed.

(Nick)

Nick was siting out side of Nicole's door. He didn't need to sleep so why waste caps on a room. Nora was in the room across from Nicole. Nick wanted to say so much to Nicole, but he was unable to since Danse broke his voice actuator.

Nick was shocked to see Nicole fight the way she did. Nick knew from seeing into Nicole 's memories she knew how to fight, but he also knew she was innocent and fighting was not something she would do readily.

Nick saw all the memories of Eddie teaching her hand to hand combat, how to use guns and throw knives. If Nick were to guess, it almost appeared he was training her to become a body guard.

Nick wouldn't have believed it until he saw the look in her eyes when she turned and hit Hancock. She had the cold eyes of a natural killer. As soon as she saw Hancock she went back to being the innocent woman he had met.

Nick was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the lady at the counter address the drifters about respecting a synth and knew Danse had to be there. A few moments later he appeared at the end of the hallway.

Nick cringed when he saw Danse. He was in a Gen 1 synth body that had been stripped of all its outer coverings. Danse was now the synth equivalent of a walking skeleton with all his organs on display. Nick made a mental note to help him find some clothes to help cover him to make him more friendly looking. Nick had wrote the lady at the desk for some clean clothes for Nicole. She gave him a black shirt and blue pants. He handed them to Nicole silently seeing the confusion on her face. She nodded her head at them and disappeared into her room with them.

Danse walked up to Nick and it sounded like he took a deep breath but his body didn't show it. "He knows nick. Hancock fond out about Nora and Deacon."

Nick shook his head. Nora had fallen in love with Deacon while she was away from Hancock. Nick didn't approve of her treating Hancock that way, but it wasn't his place to judge others.

Danse knocked on Nora's door and looked back at Nick. "Amari caught me on my way over and told me she's done fixing your voice thing." Nick smiled and stood up. He looked back at Nicole's door and then looked at Danse.

Danse nodded his head. "I'll keep and eye on her, I'm just going to be across the hall talking to Nora about Hancock."

Nora opened the door and saw Danse. She smiled and gave him hug without hesitation on touching his synth body. "I was so scared I lost you." Danse was careful as he gently touched her shoulder avoiding her hair. "We need to talk Nora."

Nick quietly opened the door to Nicole's room and saw she was laying on the bed. He closed the door and headed to Amari's.

(Nicole)

Nicole was laying in bed thinking about Hancock when she heard the door open. She pretended to be asleep out of habit and saw Nick peek through the door out of the corner of her eye. She watched him shut the door and heard his footsteps walk away.

Nicole wondered why he wouldn't speak to her. Did she offend him somehow? He had walked with her to the hotel silent and had placed his coat over her shoulders when she shivered to keep her warm against the chill air of fall.

Nicole waiting for him to say something but he never did. He had wrote a note the the woman at the frot desk and she gave Nicole some clean clothes. Nicole had silently went into the room, changed out of the bloody and dirty dress then laid on the bed to get some rest.

After Nick shut her door, Nicole sat up with Hancock on her mind. Nicole felt horrible about hitting him and cringed at the memory of the blood coming from his mouth.

Nicole stood up and decided she was going to check on him and apologize to him. Nicole put Nick's coat on and walked out of the room.

Nicole heard Nora and a man talking loudly in the room across from hers. Nicole closed her door quietly so she wouldn't disturb them and walked down the steps and through the lobby of the hotel.

Nicole blinked her eyes at the bright light and wished she had the goggles Hancock gave her from before. Her eyes were still having a hard time adjusting to the bright lights.

Nicole looked across the way and saw the back door to the state house where Hancock lived. Nicole hoped he was in there as she ran to the door to get out of the blinding bright sunlight.

Nicole didn't see or hear the guard that was late getting to his post at the door.

Nicole got to the door and opened it. She realized the state house was empty when she got inside. All the guards from before were gone and the place appeared empty.

Nicole heard a bottle make a loud thunk as it was slammed onto a hard surface. Nicole looked up to where the sound came from and realized Hancock had to be in his office.

(Hancock)

Hancock's heart was breaking. He knew it would happen eventually. No woman ever stayed with him for very long. He had hoped Nora would be the one that would stay since she was different from the others.

There had only been one woman before Nora who was willing to stay with Hancock for as long as she could. The memory of her made Hancock take another drink of the freshly opened bottle of whiskey and let the warm smell of the liquor burn through what was left of his nose as he breathed out.

She was the first woman to love him after he became a ghoul. She had been the most kind woman he had ever met, but It was her kindness that had killed her. Hancock growled at the memory of her and nearly drank half the bottle of whisky in one long drink. He then took a double hit of ultra Jet in hopes of forgetting about her and Nora.

Hancock pulled out the sketch pad he kept locked away in his desk. No one knew he had it and that was the way he liked it. He got out a pencil and a box full of color pencils. The color pencils had been a rare find that Hancock cherished.

He was drowning in alcohol and high on jet as he placed the pencils to the paper and just drew letting his hand draw like it had a mind of it's own.

He finally put the pencil down and saw he had drawn Nicole. She had blue flowers in her hair and her eyes were the intense amber. Hancock was about to add more color to her face when he heard the back door to the state house open.

Hancock growled. He had told the guards to not let anyone in because he knew Nora was the only one who would ignore then and come up to see him anyway. Hancock was not ready to face her yet.

Hancock placed his hand angrily on the bottle of whisky next to him and waited.

As soon as the door to his office opened Hancock flung the bottle at the double doors. "Get the fuck out of my house! You fucking hurt me and for wha….." Hancock froze.

It wasn't Nora standing there. Nicole was standing there starting at Hancock with wide amber eyes. He saw blood drip down the side of her face where one of the glass shards had cut her. He saw whisky drip down her black hair.

Hancock took a step to her. "Nicole.."

Nicole's face twisted into sadness and fear as she turned from him and fled down the spiral staircase. Hancock ran after her, but she was faster.

(Nicole)

Nicole was angry, terrified and sad all at once Hancock was beyond angry with her. She put her hand to the side of her face as she ran down the stars and saw her hand was covered in blood.

Nicole tried to wipe the blood away as she ran and just made more of a mess on her face.

Nicole put her hand on the door leaving a bloody hand print as she yanked the door open and ran out into the bright sun light.

Nicole saw the door leading out of GoodNeighbor and decided she didn't want to be here anymore after Hancock yelled at her like how Eddie would have.

Nicole ran to the door and as she got to it she looked back to see Hancock stumble like he was drunk through the state house door and look at her. "Nicole!"

Nicole just shook her head and fled through the door.

(Nick)

Nick had just left the memory den and was on his way back to the state house when he heard Hancock yell Nicole's name.

Nick cursed his self for leaving her alone and ran to the front of the state house. When he turned the corner he saw Hancock run to Kleo at kill or be killed. Nick ran to catch up to him.

When he rounded the corner of kill or be killed Kleo was handing Hancock a shot gun and a bag of ammo. "Where is Nicole John?" his voice was still a little off, Amari had said it would take a few hours for his voice to readjust.

Hancock picked up the gun and rushed to the door leading out of GoodNeighbor. He was ignoring Nick as he opened the door. Nick followed Hancock and grabbed his shoulder stopping him. "Answer me now John."

Nick smelled whiskey on his breath when he answered. "I fucked up Nick, I thought she was Nora and I hurt her." Nick saw Hancock look around like he was trying to find something. Nick was about to yell at Hancock when he heard gun shots go off to his right. Hancock ran out of Nicks grasp and rushed in the direction.

Nicole

Nicole ran as fast as she could out of GoodNeighbor and tried to look around. She was crying and disoriented. Nicole looked up and saw the over pass and remembered they had dropped from it into GoodNeighbor from it. Nicole saw it went in two directions and was unsure of which way to go. She took a shaky breath and felt blood drip from the cut on her face. Nicole picked a direction and followed it. She ran a while not looking at where she was going and was looking up to make sure she was following the bridge. Nicole looked down when she heard something growl at her. Nicole looked and realized she had ran into a glowing dog. She paused and tried to back away from it. Nicole heard growling behind her and saw two more dogs were behind her. Nicole backed up from them and felt fear as the glowing dog circled around and joined the other two dogs. When the glowing dog barked at Nicole the other two lunged at her.

Nicole screamed as she turned away from them and ran. She ran up a pile of junk and dirt that was piled up against a vehicle of some kind. She ran up it and saw she would have to jump down since the other side had no dirt or junk piled on the other side of it.

Nicole heard the dogs bark and growl as she jumped down trying to get away from them. She ran on with out looking back.

"Who the fuck? Well look here boys, we got a lost little girl!" Nicole stopped running and saw a man walk out from behind a wall made of junk.

He was pointing a gun at her. Nicole saw several other men appear from other places. They all advanced to her with wicked smiles on there faces.

The first man that had spoke to her grabbed her roughly by her neck and pulled her to him. "Looks like we got some entertainment tonight boys." The raider put his gun in the front of his pants and reached down the front of Nicole's pants and ran his fingers between her legs. "She's hot, moist and ready for us," He laughed as he continued to touch her sliding a finger into her.

Nicole froze at the unwelcome touch and glared at the man. She felt the same snap she felt the last time the other man had grabbed her breast.

Nicole grabbed the gun the man had holstered into the front of his pants and pulled the trigger. The man screamed as he yanked his hand out of Nicole's pants and looked down at his bleeding crotch.

He grabbed his self and pointed at Nicole "Kill the fucking bitch! She shot my dick!"

Everything blew up into chaos as Nicole pulled the gun from the front of the mans pants and him point blank between the eyes and killed him instantly.

Nicole ducked as bullets whizzed around her.

Nicole saw several of the men pop out from there cover they had ducked behind after she shot the first man. They aimed there guns at her but she never gave them the chance to fire.

Nicole effortlessly fired her gun five times and five men fell dead with bullet wounds neatly placed between the eyes.

Nicole saw a woman walk out from behind a wall with her hands raised. "Don't shoot, I mean no trouble, just go on and pass." She stepped aside and motioned for Nicole to go. Nicole kept the gun aimed at the woman as she walked around her.

Nicole broke out into a run when the woman was safely behind her. She ran on with the bridge to her right as she continued on her way.

Nicole ran on and held the gun tight incase some one wanted to touch her again. She had never felt so angry in all her life. What the hell was wrong with al these people and why were they always trying to touch her in such unpleasant ways.

Nicole stopped abruptly when the ground in front of her exploded. A giant animal had emerged from the ground and was advancing towards her.

Nicole aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. Nothing happed. Nicole threw the gun at it and watched helplessly as it bounced off its head.

It was huge with giant pinchers and had a long tail with a sharp pointed dagger looking thing on its end.

Nicole tried to back up, but felt a wall against her back and couldn't back up any further. Nicole blinked as the thing struck at her with its tail and felt sudden sharp pain explode in her right leg. Nicole looked down and saw the animal had buried the sharp thing at the end of its tail into her.

It yanked its tail out of her leg and Nicole screamed out in pain.

A man in a yellow suit ran out of the alleyway. Nicole watched him as he buried a blade into the things head and pulled out a gun and unload bullets into it.

The thing went limp as it gave a shudder and died.

The man held his hand out to Nicole and she took it. "My my, what is such a beautiful woman doing in such a dangerous place, may I ask the beautiful woman what her name is?"

Nicole looked at him and smiled as he helped her walk over the dead creature. "My name is Nicole…...I was trying to get back home and I got lost. Thank you…" Nicole stumbled and fell to her knees.

The man looked her over and saw she had a wound in her leg from where the creature had struck her.

The man smiled at her as he held a handkerchief on her leg. "Your welcome Nicole, it was because I heard your scream that I came to help. Looks like you were stung, I've got some medicine back at my gallery, if you don't mind I can help you."

Nicole smiled at him and nodded as she brushed her hair back out of her face with her hand. She accidently touched the cut on her face where the glass shard had cut her and she started bleeding again.

The man smiled as her blood ran down her face. "You are absolutely stunning, the way your pale skin makes your blood stand out is truly mesmerizing." He stopped talking for a moment and watched her blood drip down her face. "My name is Pickman, and I'm thinking of starting a new line of art with you being the main feature." He reached his hand out to her face and ran his finger through her blood and put it in his mouth.

Nicole got a horrible feeling in her stomach as she tried to get up and run away from this man. She felt her legs fail to listen to her and she collapsed into Packman's arms.

"It's the radscorpian poison darling, makes you week and hard for you to run." Pickman wrapped an arm around her and used his other to pullout a leather case. When he opened it He pulled out a syringe and pulled a cap off the needle. "This will make you sleep, cant have you panicking and dying from the poison before I can start my new gallery of paintings."

He placed the needle into Nicole's arm and pressed down on the plunger.

Nicole took a deep breath and yelled out "John!" Nicole passed out with her face on Pickman's chest.

(Hancock)

Hancock and Nick arrived to the area where they heard the raider gun fire. Hancock and Nick jumped down from the wrecked buss and saw dead raiders all over the place. There was a female raider kneeling down to a male and was crying over him. "I'll kill her, I'll kill the bitch with the bloody face."

Hancock walked up to the raider with his gun out aimed at her. "Which way did she go?"

The woman looked up at Hancock and laughed. "I don't fucking care if you shoot me, but if your looking for that bitch, she ran that way." The female raider pointed north.

Hancock ran in the direction she pointed. Hancock heard Nick talk behind him as they ran. "She said the bitch with the bloody face, why was her face bloody?"

Hancock didn't slowdown or look back at Nick. "I thought she was Nora and I threw a bottle of scotch at the door next to her. Some of the glass shards cut her face."

Hancock felt horrible for hurting her. The look on her face alone was enough to crush his heart. Hancock felt Nick tug on the back of his coat. He turned to see what the old synth wanted and was blind sided by sudden pain in his face. Hancock stopped running to keep from falling as he rubbed his face where Nick had punched him. "I deserve that Nick."

Nick nodded his head and placed his hand on Hancock's shoulder. "Your anger is what gets the best of you John, ever since you were little I've watched you do some stupid shit out of anger…."

Hancock and Nick heard Nicole's voice loud and clear as she yelled out. "John!"

Hancock looked at Nick and bolted in the direction he heard her yell.

Nick and Hancock looked around for her everywhere. They yelled out her name waiting to see of she would respond. Hancock felt like his heart was being squeezed as he thought the worst about her. The way she called out his name made him cringe. It was full of fear and desperation.

Thirty minutes after hearing her yell out Hancock heard Nick call out to him. Hancock followed Nicks voice and saw him standing by a dead Radscorpian. He was holding a piece of blue fabric and was looking at a Knife. "This fabric is from the pants I gave to Nicole." Nick handed the Knife to Hancock and showed him a small card.

Hancock felt a chill go up his back when he read who the calling card was from.

(Nicole)

When Nicole woke up she looked around. She was in a cold dark sewer like place and was tied to a chair. Nicole tried remember how she got here, but her head was feeling groggy. She saw Pickman was sitting next to her and had a paintbrush in his hand and was painting on a canvas. He looked at Nicole and smiled. "Ah, your awake."

Nicole tried to talk but her mouth was numb and she felt week and dizzy. "Where….whe….?"

The man put his bloody finger on her lip and shushed her. "You need to be quiet love. You've provided me with a lot of beautiful paint. When I saw the red blood on your porcelain skin I was inspired. Your beauty will live on long with this part of the series."

Nicole was confused. The man smiled as he touched her face with the paintbrush and continued painting. "Oh dear, looks like the paint is starting to dry again, time to freshen the pallet."

Nicole watched as he pulled out a knife. He looked at her face and placed the knife to her cheek. Nicole whimpered out in pain as he made a fresh cut.

"Shh, don't cry love, soon we can start the next half of my paintings. You can cry then."

Nicole shivered with cold and fear as he continued to paint while he hummed. He pained for a few more minutes then turned the painting for Nicole to look at.

It was a painting of her done entirely out of her blood. It was sick and beautiful at the same time.

"Now we can start on the next part. I have been looking for just the right person for this. I normally only use raiders for my works of art, but raiders are ugly. You have a rare beauty that I have never seen anywhere." He pulled out a syringe and held it up for Nicole to look at. "You know what I'm going to call my next gallery of paintings?"

He uncapped the syringe and placed it against Nicole's arm and pushed the needle in. "Ghoulish beauty" He pushed the fluid in the syringe into Nicole.

Nicole gasped as pain instantly radiated from her arm and spread through her body. It felt like fire was burning her from the inside out. Nicole screamed. "Make it stop! Please make it stop!"

The burning continued as her world started spinning. Nicole felt hot tears roll down her face.

Pickman's eyes went wide as he pulled a fresh canvas on to the easel and started painting with her blood. "What a beautiful unexpected reaction, bloody tears, I would have never thought to do such a profound thing."

Nicole started to gasp as the burning pain intensified. Nicole couldn't stand it no more and passed out.

(Hancock)

Nick Followed Hancock to Pickman's gallery. When Nick showed Hancock the calling card, Hancock ran off yelling for Nick to follow him.

Hancock had explained to Nick that Pickman was a sadistic man that used raider blood and bodies for his sick and twisted works of art. He was aloud to live only because he killed raiders keeping the raider population down around GoodNeighbor.

When they arrived at Pickman's Gallery Nick saw his art work and shook his head in disgust.

They were almost at the entrance to the sewers under the gallery when they heard Nicole's pain filled screams.

Hancock and Nick ran as fast as they could and came up on a terrifying scene.

Nicole was limp and was tied to a wooden chair. Pickman was paining on a canvas and was dabbing the paintbrush into the blood that was dripping from a cut on her cheek. Hancock didn't say a single word as he leveled his shot gun to the back of Pickman's head. "I told you never to hurt good people Pickman. I told you I would blow your head off the moment I found out you were hurting said good people."

Pickman nodded his head. "Yeah, I know, but she was so beautiful I couldn't resist. Soon that beauty will be gone and she will be the opposite of what she is now."

Hancock squinted at Pickman. "What?"

Pickman laughed as he held up a familiar looking syringe. "Look familiar Hancock? Found the last one hidden away in the same place you found your…."

Hancock puled the trigger on his shot gun, Pickman ceased to exist as his head was rendered a bloody mess.

Hancock rushed to Nicole and started cutting the ropes that held her to the chair. She was sweaty to the touch and was burning up. Hancock caught her as she fell foreword out of the chair and into his arms.

Nick knelt down next to Nicole and Hancock as he placed his hand on her forehead. "Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was John."

Hancock shook his head as he ran a hand through her black hair and ended up with a handful of hair in his hand. "I'm sorry Nick, I really fucked shit up this time."

Nicole's eyes opened suddenly. She curled up into a ball on Hancock's lap and started screaming in pain as her skin started burning from the concentrated radiation that was in the syringe. Nicole was turning into a ghoul.


	8. Changing

I do apologize for the short chapter.

Fahrenheit woke up sitting in her spot at the tower on top of the state house. It was rare for her to fall asleep like that, but it does happen from time to time.

Fahrenheit stretched out and looked around GoodNeighbor from her perch. She noticed the town was quiet. Too fucking quiet. It was like everything and everyone was holding there breath waiting for something to happen. Fahrenheit frowned. She climbed down to the balcony and went into the State house to find Hancock.

When Fahrenheit opened the door the Neighborhood watch was gone were gone.

Fahrenheit looked at Hancock's office. She saw the door was open and there was broken glass on the floor. Fahrenheit walked to the door and stepped in side crunching the glass under her boots. She saw the mess on the other door where the bottle had struck, pieces of glass were still imbedded in the wood.

Fahrenheit recognized the smell. It was Hancock's special reserve alcohol he kept stashed away. Fahrenheit looked at the desk and saw Hancock's sketch pad.

He tried to keep it hidden but Fahrenheit knew about it. She had seen it one night after Hancock had gotten drunk and passed out at the desk while drawing one night.

Fahrenheit looked at what he drew and she took in a deep breath. It was the first picture she's seen that wasn't of Lucy. He never even drew Nora.

Lucy was the first woman Hancock had been engaged to. They had been madly in love from what Fahrenheit was told. Lucy was a beautiful red head like Nora. She was kind and loving. She didn't care about Hancock being a ghoul.

Lucy had been kidnaped from GoodNeighbor by some raider thugs getting back at Hancock for overthrowing the original crime boss of this town. She had been captured by the same thugs that had been keeping Fahrenheit as a slave.

She was only 15 at the time. She remembered when they threw Lucy into the same cell as hers and laughed when she cut her face on the bars.

Fahrenheit had a different name back then. Fahrenheit shook her head not wanting to remember it. Fahrenheit had been a slave for her entire life. She had no memories of her early life from before being a slave since she was so young when She became one.

Fahrenheit flipped through the sketch book and stopped when she saw Lucy's smiling face.

Fahrenheit never got to see her smile in real life.

Fahrenheit had talked with Lucy quietly for awhile as the raiders slept that night. Lucy told Fahrenheit all about Hancock and his town. About how they over threw a crime boss named Vic to make it a better place.

Fahrenheit had been fascinated with this woman and her story's of the world that existed beyond her sorry excuse of life at the time.

Fahrenheit put the sketch pad down and looked around the room. The kitten was curled up on the couch sleeping on Ice bitch's pack.

Fahrenheit walked to it and gently picked the cat up to move it. She opened the bag and spilled everything out. Fahrenheit saw three plain dresses fall out. They looked like the black one she had wore when she first arrived to GoodNeighbor. She saw there was nothing ells in the bag. A woman who travels light, how odd.

Fahrenheit heard the door to the state house slam open. She heard foot steps run up the stairs. Suddenly the door burst open and Nora yelled. "I can explain Hancock." Nora ducked waiting for something to fly at her. Nora knew Hancock liked to throw things when he was angry.

Nora looked at Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit looked at her. "So.. I gather he knows your cheating on him?" she asked Nora with a grin.

Nora looked down in shame. "I didn't mean for it to go thi…. Why is there blood on the floor?"

Danse walked up behind Nora and put his hand on the doorway as he looked at the drops of blood. "Maybe Hancock cut him self?"

Fahrenheit shook her head. "The bottle struck the wall. Hancock was here at his desk." Fahrenheit picked up the sketch pad and shoved it into the drawer where it belonged before Nora could see it. She heard the desk click when she closed it. "There was no way Hancock could have cut his self." Fahrenheit remembered the picture of Nicole then looked at the blood. She followed it down the steps to the front door and stopped when she saw the small bloody hand print. Definitely not John's.

Hancock held Nicole close to him, He heard her cry out in pain. He stroked her hair to try and calm her but her hair kept falling out in clumps as his hand went through it.

She had her eyes closed and was breathing hard as her body warmed up. Hancock held Nicole close not knowing what to do for her.

Nick was siting close by glaring daggers at Hancock.

"Nick, I'm sorry," was all Hancock could tell his old friend as he held Nicole and rocked her to help calm her. He could only imagine the amount of pain she was in. He didn't remember any pain since he had been high as fuck when he had took the same drug that was now burning through her veins, turning her into a ghoul.

Nicole opened her eyes and looked at Hancock and smiled weekly. "You came for me." She whispered through the pain as she reached a shaky hand to Hancock's face.

Hancock took her hand and held it. "Of course I came Doll, Why'd ya run from me love?" Hancock asked dreading her answer.

Nicole closed her eyes for a moment and gritted her teeth with pain. She opened them again after taking a breath and Hancock watched horrified as bloody tears fell from her eye's . "You scared me when you looked and yelled at me the way you did. The way you threw that bottle…" Nicole shuddered. "Eddie used to do that too. I was terrified of you and ran. I'm sorry I hit you I didn't mean to hurt you." Nicole said then she took a shaky breath.

Hancock shook his head and held her closer to him. "No Doll, I was never angry at you about that, shocked you have a mean punch for someone so small, but I was never angry." He kissed her forehead and rocked her. " I'm sorry for everything love. I should've looked at who was at my door."

Nicole let out a moan of pain and gasped as she felt like she was starting to burn from the inside out. She buried her face I into Hancock's chest and screamed out as loud as she could when a sudden wave of pain blind sided her.

Hancock reached into his pocket and pulled put some ultra jet.

Nicole reached under his arms and hugged him as she grasped the back of his red frock his coat tightly with her hands and pulled Hancock to her. It felt like hot flames were blasting every part of her skin inside and out. Nicole continued to cry out and hold Hancock in a tight grip.

Nick looked at the jet and shook his head. "I don't think this is a good fucking time to be getting high John." Nick nearly yelled as he looked at the ultra jet.

Hancock shook his head. "Not for me Nick, it's for her." He said as he adjusted the dosing mechanism.

Nick shook his head . "Need I remind you about what happened not long ago with her and chems?" Nick said as he got up and moved closer to Nicole and Hancock.

Hancock glared at Nick making him stop. "You want her to suffer through this Nick? You got any bright ideas about what we should do?" he asked as he took the cap off the mouth piece and felt Nicole tightening her arms around his chest.

Nick crossed his arms and looked at Hancock. "Yeah, don't loose your Damn temper next time and face your problems like a man and quit running and hiding from every difficulty that hits you in the face!"

Hancock growled as he glared at Nick and held Nicole tighter. Had those words came from anyone other then Nick they would be laid out on the ground right now. Hancock knew the old synth was right though and it pissed him off. Lucy and …..Hancock's heart broke again. They both would still be alive had he not ran from her when she told him he was going to be a father. Hancock shook his head and spoke quietly to Nick. "I know what I'm doing Nick. She over dosed on accident. I'm not going to let her suffer and die like Lucy."

Nick knew he had hit a raw nerve with Hancock, he took a deep breath and shook his head. His anger drained at the sound of Lucy's name.

Nick sighed and unfolded his arms as he knelt down to Hancock and Nicole. "What can I do to help John?"

Hancock shook his head as he looked down at Nicole, she was gasping and her hold on him kept getting tighter. "Nicole love, I've got stuff here that can help you with your pain."

Nicole didn't respond to him. Her eyes looked as if they were staring through him. Hancock winced when her grip on him became tighter. She was holding him so tight it was getting hard for him to breath.

"Nicole?" Hancock shook her slightly, "Nicole!" Handcock almost yelled.

Nick put his hand on her shoulder and tried to talk to her. "Nicole, hey look at us Nicole."

Nick shook his head and looked at Hancock and saw his face full of worry, pain and concern. Hancock took a deep breath and whispered "I'm sorry love," Hancock placed the Ultra jet to her mouth and pressed it down as she took a breath. He then handed Nick a Med-x syringe "Give her this while I talk to her. I was high on jet and this when I turned into a Ghoul."

Nicole was holding on to Hancock like her life depended on it. She didn't hear him or Nick call out to her since she was deeply focused on mentally blocking the pain. She took deep breaths of air and focused on every happy memory she could think of. She kept going back to the jump she and Hancock did when they first dropped into GoodNeighbor. The little party they had at the Third Rail. Hancock holding her as she fell asleep that first Night. The way he pulled her out of the memory lounger at the Memory Den. All happy memories that made her chest feel like it was bursting with what she thought was joy at the time. After the Memory Lounger and seeing into Nicks thoughts Nicole finally knew and understood what she was feeling for Hancock.

Nicole felt the pain build to another level and she gritted her teeth and tried to hold back her scream as she breathed out.

Nicole started to take a deep breath and felt something on her mouth then spray something sweet and bitter into her throat as she took a deep breath.

Nicole opened her eyes and saw a jet inhaler pull away from her face. She felt the pain immediately dull a bit as the effects of what was sprayed into her mouth took effect. She looked at Hancock and saw he had Concern on his face. She felt that feeling in her chest as she looked at his deep black obsidian eyes. Nicole didn't know what obsidian was but it had to mean black. Another new word she had learned from Nick's thoughts.

Nicole felt her head spin, she laid her head on Hancock's chest and loosened her grip on him. She felt him take a deep breath and his body relaxed a little as she felt her eyes get heavy. "Nicole, speak to me, you ok Doll?" Hancock asked as he touched her face. Nicole felt her chest make the strong fluttery happy feeling that it had been making all those other times before.

Love.

Nicole felt her heart was full of love for Hancock.

With out even knowing she had said it Nicole looked at his eyes and thought out loud. "I love you John." She felt the chems hit her with full effect finally . Nicole let out a sigh of relief from the pain as her head slumped to Hancock's chest.

Hancock was staring at Nicole wide eyed. He was at a loss for words.

"Hey John!" Nick waved his hand in front of Hancock's face.

Hancock blinked his eyes and looked at Nick. "What?"

Nick shook his head. "Said your name a few times and you never responded. I was asking you where we should take her. We need to get her to a Dr. she's lost a lot of blood."

Hancock looked at Nicole and saw she was paler then normal and was covered in sweat as she slept. Hancock had given her the same mix of chems he had took in hopes that would help her feel less pain and make her sleep.

Hancock looked at Nick. "Can't take her to GoodNeighbor, its too far. We could take her to the railroad headquarters or Cabot…."

Nick sat up and looked at Hancock putting his hand up to stop him. "We take her to the Cabot house, it's closer and maybe Jack can help her." Nick picked up the syringe that had contained the substance that turned Hancock into a ghoul and was turning Nicole….his daughter, into a ghoul too.

Nick had to pick up Nicole so Hancock could get up. Hancock dusted his coat off then He looked at Nick and started to reach for Nicole to take her back from Nick and stopped when Nick held her closer to him. "You go ahead I'll carry her, I don't get tired and you're a better fighter then I am John."

Hancock nodded his head and took lead as he lead the way out.

When they got out Nick saw both Hancock's and Nicole's breath came out as puffs. It was cold and dark. Perfect cover for them to make there way to the Cabot house. Nick knew Cabot would be there best bet since he knew more then any other Doctor in the common wealth. He was probably the only Doctor who hot a real DR's license since he was from pre war time.

Nick looked down at Nicole then up at Hancock. "let's get going John."


	9. Jay

Cait was at the bar cleaning a cup. She had a smile on her face and was listening to a young woman sing on stage.

Cait had bought the combat zone with a bunch of caps Nora had given her. It was about five years ago and Cait had finally reopened the place after some major remodeling.

No longer a fighting pit but a bar and lounge where people could rest from the wastland and maybe sing a song or two. Cait made sure to provide more water then alcohol. Chems were prohibited, only certain special patrons were aloud to use those.

It was nearing closing time, about 2 am when Cait head the door open. She looked up and saw a small figure walk in and look around. They looked in her direction and saw her. Cait watched as the small figure got closer.

They were wearing a coat with the hood pulled up, blue jeans and boots. As the figure got closer they looked up at Cait and Cait could tell it was a small boy. He looked to be about 10 give or take a few years.

Cait waited for him to climb up on to a barstool and spoke to him when he looked at her. "What's a wee lad like you doing up at this hour in a place like this?" she continued to clean the cup.

The boy looked at her an put a hand full of caps on the counter. "A Nuka cola please, I'm here because I'm thirsty mam."

Cait smiled as she took a few of the caps and pushed the rest back at him. "Nuka cola's three caps lad."

She handed the boy a nuka cola. She popped the top off for him and tossed him the cap. The boy nodded at her. "Thank you mam."

Cait smiled. She was curious about this polite little boy. "Yer mum know where yer at lad?" Cait asked in her Irish accent.

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Been gone long enough she's probably forgot I exist by now. She has problems remembering things. Been that way for as long as I can remember."

Cait shook her head. "Then why ye here an not helpin her?"

The boy snorted. "I've been helping her until a few years ago. Then she met…him, her new husband. He's been the one taking care of her and me. She's safe, I know she is."

Cait shook her head confused. "Why leave if your being taken care of? I would be happy."

The boy lowers his head. "I was happy, then he decided I was going to be his son and that I was going to take over things like him. He started training me how to be….him. I don't want that. I don't want to be an Elder."

Cait blinked. She shook her head. "I'm sorry lad, but you said Elder?"

The boy sighed. He put the hood down and Cait saw a fresh haircut graced the boys blond hair. It was definitely a signature Brotherhood of Steel haircut.

He shook his head and looked at Cait with sad pale blue eyes. "I don't want to be a leader. I don't want to be like my… Father… Elder Maxson. That's why I'm running away to GoodNeighbor. That's where runaways, criminals and…." he whispered "Ghouls live. My Father hates ghouls and that place, so he won't think to look for me there." The boy whispered with a smile.

Cait was shocked. She didn't let the boy see it. Nora killed Maxson when the airship went down. There was no way he was still alive. "Yer gonna go all the way to GoodNeighbor? Alone, with no weapons?"

The boy grinned and pulled out a combat knife with crusted blood on it. "My Father came back home with this stuck in his leg. I stole it and stashed it after it was removed by the medic. As soon as he and my mom left to get his leg fixed I grabbed it and ran." As the boy spoke he twirled the blade like an expert in his right hand.

Cait sighed. No way this boy can travel that far alone with just a combat knife. Cait put her rag and cup down, then yelled out to her business partner. "Yo Bill!"

A voice and a face appeared and a large burly man made his way to the bar. "What ya need Cat?" he asked in a gruff voice.

Cait smiled and nodded at the boy. "I'm gonna head up to GoodNeighbor and get our shipment of water and alcohol from Charlie, mind watchin the place while I'm gone?"

The man crossed his arms and glared at Cait. "You forgot them last time you were gone Cat."

Cait sighed as She packed a bag. "I won't forget your fancy lads this time."

The big man reached out and pulled Cait into a tight side hug. "Thanks kitty!"

Cait looked at him and smiled. "Keep calling me kitty and I'll never get ye bloody fancy lads."

Bill grinned "Sorry Cat." Bill laughed and walked away while Cait glared at him with a smile.

Cait turned back to the boy as she slung her pack to her shoulder and strapped a gun to her belt then slung a rifle over her shoulder. "Ready…..What's ye name lad?"

The boy looked at her with a smile. He jumped down from the stool and put his hood back up. "My name's Jay, nice to meet you….Cat?"

Cait laughed then looked at the boy with a serious face. "Bill is the only one who can get away with calling me Cat. My names Cait." Cait nodded at the door. "Let's get going Jay."

Hancock took lead as Nick followed with Nicole in his arms.

It was cold and chill.

Hancock stopped and turned to Nick. Nicole was still wearing Nick's thread wore duster. Hancock took off his coat and walked to Nick. "Hold on it's cold and I don't want her getting sick." Hancock wrapped his coat over Nicks thread bare coat on Nicole.

Nick watched Hancock and looked at his white shirt. "That's going to make you a target if we get attacked, besides what's keeping you from getting sick now?"

Hancock shrugged his shoulders. "I won't get sick, I'm a ghoul. And let someone shoot at me first. I'm ready for a fucking fight." Hancock said as he held his gun tight. He turned away from Nick. "Besides, were more then half way there now."

Hancock and Nick walked in silence for a moment. Nick sighed. "Sorry about what I said back there John. I just can't stand seeing you tear yourself up over something out of your control."

Hancock stopped laughing. He looked at Nick. "I could have controlled it. I should have never left her side. Soon as She told me I was going to be a father, kinda terrified me. I didn't know much of my own father." Hancock looked at Nick "In reality you're the closest thing to a father ive had.

You're the one who practically raised me after my brother disowned me over our parent's deaths." Hancock laughed "Nother fine example of my running away skills, I sometimes wonder if they would still be alive had my mother stayed home instead of dragging my father out to find me after I ran away from him."

Nick sighed as he shook his head. "They didn't go out to look for you John."

Hancock stopped walking. He turned to Nick. "What?"

Nick looked away from Hancock. "They….your father mostly, was tired of living in the Commonwealth. It was his idea to leave, your mother….she was horrified."

Hancock looked at Nick, "Why have you never told me this?"

Nick shook his head. "Your Mother asked me to never say a word, your Father was ready to leave you and your brother. He was the one who forced your mother to leave. She asked me to watch over you and your brother before she left."

Hancock started to say something then stopped. He shook his head and growled then walked on.

They both walked in silence. Nicole started to wake in Nicks arms. She looked up at Nick groaning. "Where….am I?" She asked in gaspy breaths.

Nick looked at her not sure what to do or say. "Were taking you to a doctor, you lost a lot of blood."

Nicole started shivering. "It's cold." Nicole tried to huddle closer to Nick for warmth, but his mechanical body and synthetic skin were just as cold as the air around them.

Hancock heard Nicole tell Nick she was cold as they rounded the corner and came face to face with a large protectron. "Be advised you are being watched."

Hancock flipped the machine off and walked by it. "Fuck off."

Nick let out a disapproving sigh.

Hancock growled. "Sorry, forgot my manners," He turned back to the robot an bowed, "Please, fuck off."

Nick led the way as he shook his head at Hancock and ignored the robot. They got to an intercom and Hancock pushed the button.

"Go away." Came an old gruff ghoul voice.

Hancock was irritated and slapped the intercom. "Damn it Edward just let us the fuck in."

There was silence for a moment. "Is that mayor Hancock I hear?"

Nicole let out a moan of pain. Nick spoke up "Will you please let us in Edward, its an emergency!"

The door buzzed and the lock clicked.

"Better be worth the chewing out I'm gonna get later over this."

Hancock opened the door for Nick and walked in behind him.

The house was warm and inviting. It was pristine and untouched by time and ravages of war and destruction. Hancock hated it and thought it was too nice.

Edward approached them and looked at Nicole in Nick's arms. "What's going on here? What's wrong with her?"

Hancock crossed his arms and looked at Edward. "She's turning into a ghoul and we need Jack's help with her."

Edward looked at Nicole and saw she was sweating hard and shivering. He sighed and motioned for them to fallow him.

They entered the parlor and Imogene was sitting on the couch. She looked up when Nick and Hancock walked into the room. She smiled wide and looked at both men. "Long time since I seen you two, what do we owe the pleasure of your appearance boys?"

She looked at Nicks arms and saw Nicole. She smiled. "Always has to be a girl between us Nick."

Nick shook his head. "She's… not well… were…"

Hancock spoke for Nick. "She's his daughter."

Imogene sat up and looked at Nick wide eyed. "Didn't know you had those kind of," she looked down at Nick's pants, " capabilities."

Nick wanted to hide. If his skin could blush it would be ten shades of red.

Hancock laughed. "No, she's the daughter of the original Nick"

Imogene stood up and motioned to the couch. "Set her down Nick, Edward go get Jack, He's in his lab doing god knows what."

Nick took Nicole and laid her on the couch. Nicole groaned in pain as her skin brushed up against the fabric of the couch. She was drenched in sweat and was shaking.

Imogene had walked to the bathroom and came back with a wet rag and started to wipe Nicole's face. "She's so young looking, how old is she, how is it she exists if she's the original Nicks daughter?"

Hancock sat on the couch and held Nicole's head in his lap. "I found her in a bunker in cryo. She says she was in and out of cryo many times so she's not sure exactly how old she is."

Jack's voice could be heard yelling from his lab. "I said no Visitors Damn it Edward!"

Imogene looked up at the lab and sighed. "It's been rough trying to live with out the serum. We lost mother about a year ago. Their is a few vials left, Jack diluted them to make them last longer, but I've chose to not take them. I've lived long enough. Jack doesn't want to except that he's aging and has been working day and night to find a way too….."

The doors to the lad opened and Jack angrily walked down the steps. "What is so damn important that you two had to come in here and….Who is that?"

Nick looked at Jack. "She's technically my daughter, she was injected with this," Nick handed Jack the syringe that Pickman injected Nicole with, "It's the same stuff that turned John into a ghoul."

Jack's eyes went wide, He smiled and took the syringe from Nick. "Maybe things are about to change for us Imogene."

Imogene crossed her arms. "No Jack I don't want to live any longer then I need to. I'm done with living forever. "

Jack acted like he didn't hear her. He looked at Nicole and touched her forehead. "She's burning up." Jack looked at Hancock and motioned for him to come closer, he placed his hand on Hancock's chest and nodded his head. "You ghouls run warmer then us. She's well on her way to becoming a ghoul."

Jack got up and started walking to his lab. "Bring her up I've got a bed up there she can lay in."

Hancock took Nicole up the stares while Nick sat in the parlor with Imogene.

Hancock laid Nicole on the hospital bed and turned to Jack. "Can you help her? She's lost a lot of blood, and her hair…"

Jack looked at her and nodded. He walked over to a drawer and took out a syringe. He walked it back to Nicole and pulled her arm to him. Hancock stopped him. "What are you injecting her with?"

Jack looked at Hancock, "Do you want me to help her, or not?"

Hancock let go of Jack and watched as he injected Nicole. "That's one of the last vials of serum I have left. It should help reverse a few of the ghoulifiaction effects."

Hancock looked at Jack wide eyed. "Thought you needed that shit to live?"

Jack held up the syringe that Nicole was injected with. "I've changed my focus on things. Imogene may not want to live longer, but I've got tests and projects to do. If I cant prolong my life then I'll just turn my self into a ghoul and make my life last a little longer.

I can test this syringe and figure out what was in it and make my own to inject my self with."

Hancock shook his head. "You don't want to be a ghoul. Life is different once you become a ghoul."

Jack just shook his head. "I don't care." Jack got a blood bag out after he tested Nicole's blood and started to give her a transfusion of artificial blood.

He looked at her blood tests with concern. "She's got some cell damage, but it appears the ghoulification is repairing some of that damage."

Hancock looked at jack. "I don't understand what your saying."

Jack looked at Nicol. "She was slowly dying until she was injected with that ghoul serum…..I like that. Jack wrote ghoul serum on the syringe.

Hancock looked at Nicole. She was dying?

"Why was she dying?"

Jack looked at her. "Her damage was the kind you see in things that have been put through a lot of physical stress and extremes. It looks as if she was frozen and thawed out many times."

Hancock nodded. "Yeah that's where I found her, in a cryo pod."

Jack just shook his head. "She's lucky then. In about a week she would have been dead."

Jack took another sample from Nicole and tested it. "Much better, she looks a lot healthier now."

Jack tuned to Hancock with a syringe. "May I have a sample?"

Hancock looked at his arm and shrugged his shoulders. "Why the fuck not."

Hancock rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm.

Nick and Imogen were laughing down stairs. When the door to the lab opened hours later.

Hancock was helping Nicole walk slowly. She had a smile on her face and looked like she had color to her skin. She still had her black hair, but it was thinner. Her skin showed some signs of ghoulication but she showed no other signs of being ill. Hancock had a serious look on his face as he watched Nicole walk down the stairs slowly. He helped her down each step.

When they got to the bottom he helped her sit in a recliner.

Nicole looked at Nick and smiled. "Dr says I'm all better. I'm ready to get out of here and go back to GoodNeighbor."

Hancock sat in a chair and quietly stared off lost in thought.

Nick Looked at the two and wondered what happened in Jacks office.

Jack finally appeared at the top of the steps and walked down with a small box in his hands. He handed the box to Nicole. "Remember to take one shot every week until they are gone. It should help with the damage that was done to your body."

Nick looked at Jack. "Damage?"

Jack nodded. "She was frozen and thawed out so many times her DNA and cells were rapidly deteriorating. She probably would have been dead in about a week."

Nick looked at Nicole and didn't know what to say.

"I gave her several doses of the serum that we were using to stay young. Its powerful enough it should help rebuild her damaged cells."

Imogene got up and hugged Jack. Jack got a disgusted look on his face and backed away from her. "What are you doing?"

Imogene smiled at Jack. "You've gave up on the serum."

Jack looked at her and shook his head. "No thanks' to her and Hancock I'm going to turn my self into a…. I don't know what to call it yet."

Nick looked at Hancock then at Jack. "A ghoul?"

Jack laughed. "That's just it, I've discovered that whatever is in that vile…."

Hancock got up and left the room.

"He's taking the news pretty hard."

Nick looked at Jack then at the empty spot where Hancock was. What ever it was had to be something big to make Hancock leave the room like that.

Jack continued. "I tested the syringe. It's a designer FEV drug. Its different from what the Super mutants were given. It's like this one was designed to mimic the effects of ghoulification and give the person injected all the perks of being a ghoul but not really be a ghoul."

Nick shook his head. "I'm not understanding."

Jack shook his head. "In short Hancock and Nicole are not ghouls, they're human, but with ghoul perks and looks, it appears the drug was still in its testing stages and was not completely finished. From what I can tell from the tests, the intended effect is to look human but have all the ghoul abilities."

Nick looked at Nicole wide eyed. "So she's not a ghoul even though she looks like one?"

Jack nodded his head. "It appears that the Ghoul serum is unstable to begin with. When you mix chems into the mix it made it work in unexpected ways. That's why she and Hancock were physically turning. The Chems were effecting the process."

Nick finally understood what Jack was saying and why John was so upset.

Nick nodded at Imogene and got up to fallow Hancock. He picked up his thread wore coat from the couch and put it on out of habit. He didn't need it, but he knew it made him look good and less like a synth.

Nick found Hancock standing outside the front door of the Cabot house smoking a cigarette. He was leaning against the wall deep in thought.

Nick placed his hand on his shoulder. Hancock jumped and looked at Nick. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that Nick." Hancock said quietly.

Nick smiled at Hancock. "You ok?"

Hancock shrugged his shoulders. "I fucked up again, I nearly tuned her into me, should have just listened to you and not given her the chems."

Nick pulled out a pack of cigarettes and pulled out his silver lighter. He tried to light it a few times but it wouldn't light.

Hancock reached into his picket and handed Nick a silver lighter without even looking at him. "Here, you can keep it, not my color anyways."

Nick took the lighter and lit his cigarette up with it. He put the pack and lighter in his pocket. "Did you know it would happen?"

Hancock looked up and gave Nick a confused look. "Fuck no Nick, I wouldn't of given her the chems had I of known!"

Nick nodded his head. "That's just it John, you didn't know, so why are you beating your self up over something you didn't know and couldn't control"

Hancock looked at Nick. "Because I feel bad, ever since I brought her out of cryo, it seams like she's been in nothing but one mishap and accident right after another. I should have never hit that red button under the bed."

Nick looked at Hancock odd.

Hancock shook his head. "That's how I found her. I was trying to light a cigarette and dropped the lighter. I saw a glowing button under the bed."

Nick shook his head. "I'm glad you found her, my fiancé..no Nick's fiancé was killed with child. He.. we would have never known if you never hit that button. In a way I feel Nick's being or what ever it is that's in me, he's happy. I've never felt this much at peace with what's in me and I have you to thank."

Hancock stood up and flicked his butt into the grass. The protectron suddenly moved and headed directly for Nick and Hancock.

Nick looked at Hancock and pointed at the cigarette butt. "Pick it back up!"

Hancock quickly picked up the butt and looked back at the protectron as its weapons were warming up. As soon as Hancock picked up the butt the weapons died down and the protectron rolled back to its spot.

Hancock let his breath out. "FUUUUUCK that was messed up!"

Nick laughed and opened the front door. "I don't think it likes you very much." Nick flicked a cigarette butt and the protectron stayed motionless.

Hancock flipped the protectron off and saw it start to come back to life again.

Hancock quickly fallowed Nick back into the house.

Cait looked up and saw the red glow of the neon sign that pointed the way to GoodNeighbor. She smiled and pointed at it. "Well Jay, were here lad."

Jay looked at the sign and smiled. "That looks so awesome!" Jay fallowed Cait as she opened the door to GoodNeighbor. When they got inside Jay looked around and smiled. He loved old buildings and the history that went with them. He saw the old state house and smiled. "That place looks awesome, this whole place is awesome, I wonder why my Father hates this place." Jay walked a few steps and stumbled.

Cait steadied him and looked at him. "That was a long walk lad, you feeling up for a rest?"

Jay was excited, but felt weary at the same time. He was used to training exercises, but not long walk of running and dodging took a lot out of him. They didn't run into much trouble on the way. The only bad part of the trip was when a suicider mutant fallowed them but they made sure to keep there distance and the mutant soon got tired of fallowing them.

Cait took Jay by the hand and walked up to one of the night watch at the state house doors. "Hay carl, long time since I seen your wrinkled face."

The watch man looked at Cait and smiled. "Well if it isn't Caitlin, how are you?"

Cait held up her hands and nodded at him. "I'm same as always, getting in trouble and fighting my way back out again."

Carl laughed. He stepped aside to let Cait through. "The mayors out of town right now, but Fahrenheit, Nora and Danse are up stairs if you need to talk to someone."

Cait gave carl a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you love." Carl blushed as much as his ghoul skin would let him.

Jay fallowed Cait through the door and up the round steps. He watched her go through the door and into a room with two other woman and a…..Synth?

Jays father was completely against synths and was very vocal about how evil they were.

Course he did say the same thing about ghouls and Carl was the Nicest ghoul he's ever encountered.

Jay fallowed Cait into the room. The woman with red hair got a happy look on her face as she embraced Cait.

The two woman talked like old friends that had never seen each other for years. Cait looked at jay. "He says his father, Elder Maxson, is grooming him to take his place."

The synth quickly looked at jay "Him? Why would Arthur pick him to be the next Elder?"

Jay saw Cait looked at the synth odd.

The boy looked at the synth. He Knew his father? "You know my father?" Jay asked the synth.

He pulled back his hood from his sweater and the synths mechanical eyes went wide. "I didn't know Arthur had a son? And I was even his top Paladin."

Both Jay's eyes, and Cait's eyes went wide as they both looked at the synth. "You're Paladin Danse!" They both said at the same time.

The synth let out a laugh. "Well it's good to know he still thinks about me to talk about me." Danse looked at Cait. "I had a," Danse looked at Jay, "maybe we should just let the boy rest up here while we talk in the VIP room of the third rail."

Cait looked at the boy then nodded her head. "F, okay if the lad sleeps in the office on one of the couches?"

Fahrenheit looked at Jay. "As long as he leaves the chems alone, he should be fine."

Jay looked at her. " Mam, My father says chems are a useless waste of time and should never be used except for medical purposes only."

Fahrenheit looked at the boy, "Best you remember that too boy, there's a couch, here's a blanket, there is a hairless cat up here somewhere don't be alarmed if it sleeps on you."

The boy took the blanket from Fahrenheit, "Thank you mam."

Fahrenheit snorted, "The names Fahrenheit, or F for short, but never Fahr. Got that Jay."

Jay nodded his head and laid on the couch and covered up. He pulled his hood back over his head and fell fast asleep before Danse and the women could leave the room.

Hancock, Nick, Nicole and Edward were making goodtime to GoodNeighbor. They finally made it to the red neon sign out front. Nicole was still unsteady on her feet but she kept telling Hancock and Nick she was fine.

Hancock took the lead as he opened the door back into GoodNeighbor. The other three fallowed him. He smiled as he looked around. "Nothing beats the feeling of being back home."

Nicole smiled as she walked through. "It feels good to have a place to call home."

Hancock's smile faded and he turned to Nicole and hugged her. "Way to make the heart have feels Doll," He held her for a moment then kissed the top of her head. "You can call this place home for as long as you want."

Hancock let Nicole go and turned to Nick, "Why don't we all go to the third rail and get some food and drink. Catch up on what's been going on here while we were gone."

Nick looked at Hancock. "We were only gone about two day's."

Hancock nodded, "A lot can happen in that short amount of time."

Hancock motioned for them all to go. "I'm just gonna get a few things from the office, I'll meet you guys there."

Nick nodded as he , Nicole and Edward headed for the third rail.

Hancock turned to the state house and walked to it. He saw carl and waved at him as he walked up. "Hey Carl, how goes everything man?"

Carl lit up when he saw Hancock. "Well mayor, Cait arrived today, she had a young boy with her, Fahrenheit's been pissed the whole time you were gone, maybe now she might calm down, that's about it Mayor."

Hancock thanked Carl and continued on his way inside. He made his way up to his office and picked up a tin of mentats. He started to sit on the couch but stood up quickly when he heard a voice yell out. "owww"

He turned and looked at the couch as a figure rolled over and sat up looking at Hancock. They had a hood pulled over there head and Hancock had a hard time trying to see their face. The figure quickly pulled out a blood encrusted combat knife and aimed it at Hancock.

Hancock looked at the blood stained knife and knew he had seen it some where before. "Your sleeping in my couch, in my home and your going to pull a knife on me?"

The form quickly put the knife down. "Sorry sir I didn't know."

Hancock laughed as he sat on the other couch across from the figure.

Hancock popped another mentat. "s'ok you didn't know…..what are you a boy or a girl? Do you have a Name?"

The figure shook there head. "Sir, I'm a boy and my name is Jay." He held out his hand to Hancock.

Hancock shook the hand and smiled. "I'm Mayor John Hancock."

The figure started laughing.

Hancock looked at the figure odd. "So first you pull a knife on me in my home and now your laughing at my name?"

The figure stopped laughing, "No sir, I apologize, I was laughing because before Elder Maxson told my mom to change my name it was John Hancock also." The boy pulled back the hood and looked at Hancock with a smile.

Hancock looked at Jay and shook his head in disbelief. "Holy Fuck you look just like Lucy."

The boy smiled. "You know my mother?"


End file.
